


the past cannot be changed (the future is yet in your power)

by MYuzuki



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X, Rockman Zero | Mega Man Zero
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Chapter 22 onwards is currently MMZ2, Chapters 1 through 21 are MMZ1, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, Team as Family, the "what if Ciel found Axl instead of Zero" Au that no one asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:41:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 72,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23761735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MYuzuki/pseuds/MYuzuki
Summary: “I don’t understand,” Ciel says, eyes wide and face pale as she stares at the Reploid in stasis, all her plans for the future dissolving into dust before her eyes. “It should be Zero here. All the records I’ve found said so!” She doesn’t even recognize this Reploid, which probably doesn’t mean that much given how many records were lost over the last few centuries, but still.She’d come here expecting to find a hero to save them.Instead she’s left with a complete unknown, an unfamiliar Reploid with a scar on his face and no other identifying marks; there’s not even anything on the stasis equipment to indicate the Reploid’s designation.
Relationships: Axl & Ciel, Axl & Milan, Axl & Totten, Axl & X (Rockman), Axl & Zero (Rockman)
Comments: 189
Kudos: 180





	1. Chapter 1: The Awakening

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so! I was on tumblr and stumbled across a post (made by @tanakaclinkbeard), which was something along the lines of “what if Ciel found Axl instead of Zero?”. As a huge fan of both the Megaman X series and the Megaman Zero series (which canonically takes places after the mmx series), the angst potential for this alternate version of events was too much for me to resist, lol.
> 
> So please enjoy this alternate version of the MMZ series, now with 100% more Axl! I currently have plans to have this AU cover the events of all four MMZ games, albeit with pretty significant changes to certain plot points since Axl is our main protagonist rather than Zero. Anyway, it should be fun. ;D

**Chapter 1: The Awakening**

* * *

Ciel has been on the run plenty of times in the past, but no matter how many times she's fled for her life there's still something viscerally terrifying about being chased by vicious Pantheons that have been tasked to kill her.

"Hurry," a Resistance soldier says, gesturing for her to precede him down a service tunnel that branches off from the main path. "This way!"

"We'll stay here, try to hold them back," another Resistance member says, checking the clip of her machine gun before crouching down in a defensive position behind some rubble; several other soldiers follow suit, and it breaks Ciel's heart to know that this is probably the last time she'll see them alive.

After all, Neo Arcadia isn't taking prisoners anymore; they're just slaughtering dissidents wholesale, and with every passing day the guilt and fury trapped in her chest grows, her heart pounding in a continuous beat of _my fault, my fault, my fault._

"Ciel, we need to hurry," her main escort says urgently, tugging on her arm. "Come on, this way."

Ciel hesitates, not wanting to leave the others behind, but in the end she turns and keeps running because what she's running towards ( _who_ she's running towards) has the potential to be more important in the grand scheme of things; if she can just _get there_ , it could turn everything around.

So she keeps running, and tries to block out the anguished screams of her comrades as they're gunned down behind her.

She runs, rushing through the twisting service tunnels with only two Resistance warriors (her friend Milan and another soldier whose name she's ashamed to realize she doesn't remember) and her Cyber Elf Passy for company. They run, and run, and then run some more.

Right up until the tunnel they're following comes to an abrupt stop, at least.

"No way," Ciel says, panting for breath even as she spins around looking for a way out; a door, another service tunnel, even an _air duct_ would do at this point….but there's nothing. "A dead end?!"

"So we came all this way for nothing?" Milan asks, the despair clear in his voice.

"No," Passy says, floating in the air above Ciel's shoulder before zooming across the space to hover in front of the wall. "Not for nothing. I feel a strong energy on the other side of this wall. This must be the place."

"Okay," the Resistance soldier says, coming over to put a hand against the wall before stepping back with a determined expression. "Leave this to me. Stay back, Ciel," he adds, waving for her to move away from the wall.

She steps out of the way, trying to block out the sound of thundering footsteps coming down the tunnel towards them; it seems like the Pantheons had made short work of her friends, which means they're almost out of time.

The soldier breaks through the wall using a combination of brute force and strategically applied bursts of machine gun fire, and waves for her to go through. "You should go on ahead," he tells her, expression hardening as the footsteps of the Pantheons grow closer. "I'll take care of _them_."

Ciel swallows hard, conflicted, because there's no way a lone soldier can possibly stand against a legion of enemies on his own and yet staying here with him would accomplish nothing, would in fact be almost insulting in its pointlessness when what they've fought so hard to find is almost within reach. "Alright," she says, and climbs through the gap in the wall, Milan and Passy close on her heels.

"I can't believe we're finally going to find Zero," Milan says from behind her as they scramble across the rubble and into the next room, the excitement in his tone almost tangible. "After all this time searching!"

"This could change everything," Ciel agrees, something that might be hope fluttering in her chest.

Only for it to all come crashing down when she sees the unconscious Reploid at the end of the deserted laboratory.

There's a moment of terrible, crushing silence, then, "That's…not Zero," Milan says, hesitant like he's scared of what might happen if he voices the obvious problem that they've just been presented with.

"I don't understand," Ciel says, eyes wide and face pale as she stares at the Reploid in stasis, all her plans for the future dissolving into dust before her eyes. "It should be Zero here. All the records I've found said so!" She doesn't even _recognize_ this Reploid, which probably doesn't mean that much given how many records were lost over the last few centuries, but _still_.

She'd come here expecting to find a hero to save them.

Instead she's left with a complete unknown, an unfamiliar Reploid with a scar on his face and no other identifying marks; there's not even anything on the stasis equipment to indicate the Reploid's designation.

"Now what do we do," she whispers, a sense of hopelessness washing over her because they came _all this way_ , sacrificed _so much_ , and it was all completely futile.

"What do you mean, _what do we do_ ," Milan hisses. "We wake him up!"

"But-" Ciel shakes her head. "But we don't even know who this is!"

"Does it _matter_?" Milan demands. "At this point, we can use any help we can get." He strides towards the stasis apparatus with a determined expression, only to be thrown backwards when he gets within arm's reach of the Reploid. "You've got to be kidding me," he grumbles, scrambling to his feet. "A force field?" He shakes his head. "Ciel, I know this isn't who you expected to find, but he must have been _someone_ important for there to be a protective measure like this in place."

Despite her misgivings about the situation as a whole, Ciel's inclined to agree; for there to be a protective force field in place around this Reploid means that he _mattered_ to someone, once upon a time. Someone wanted to keep him safe while he was in stasis, protected from the outside world until he could be woken up. "Let me see if I can bypass the force field," she says, going over to a nearby computer console.

"We may not have time for that," Milan says, whipping around suddenly as a hoarse shout of warning comes from the gap in wall along with the sound of machine gun fire and energy blasts. "The Pantheons have caught up with us. Whatever you're going to do, Ciel, do it fast." He puts himself between her and the entrance, gun held at the ready.

Ciel slams her hands against the console in frustration. "But I can't get this to work," she cries out, because the computer is an outdated mess of programming; she can't sort through the different archaic security protocols fast enough to find and deactivate the force field, not before the Pantheons get past Milan. "It's no use…

"Ciel…" Passy hovers above her shoulder, glowing brightly and radiating a sense of urgency. "Ciel!"

Ciel jerks her gaze away from the computer screen to look at Passy. "Wh-what?"

"You should use my power," her Cyber Elf says. "It should be enough to penetrate the force field, and then you can wake him up."

"But if I do that, you'll be-" Ciel shakes her head, rejecting the idea; she's lost too much already, she can't sacrifice anyone else.

"Ciel, hurry!" Milan shouts, and then there's a cacophony of machine gun fire that drowns out the sound of his voice.

"Ciel, there's no other way," Passy insists. "Remember, this is what we came all this way for; you can't give up now."

"But we came here for _Zero_ ," Ciel says, frustrated and frantic by turns. "And that-" she gestures to the Reploid across the room, "-isn't him. How can I ask you to sacrifice yourself for this when it might be pointless?"

"It's not pointless," Passy insists. "This can bring hope to the Resistance again. Besides, don't you remember? Everyone else is waiting for your safe return. You _have_ to keep going. Don't let it all end here."

Ciel swallows hard. "But what about you?" If Passy uses her own energy to breach that barrier, there won't be anything left to sustain her existence in the physical world any longer; she'll dissipate into fragments of data adrift in cyberspace, gone forever.

"Don't worry about me," Passy says. "This is my choice. My last gift to you, Ciel, as thanks for your friendship."

Ciel's vision turns blurry as tears start to spill down her cheeks. "Passy…thank you."

"No, Ciel," the Cyber Elf says with a gentle smile. "Thank you. And goodbye."

Without further ado, the Cyber Elf flings herself through the air, her glow increasing in intensity as she approaches the force field around the mysterious Reploid. The moment of impact creates a blinding flash of light that leaves Ciel blinking both tears and bright spots out of her eyes, and once her vision clears Passy is gone and so is the force field.

A tremendous wave of grief crashes into her, but she forces it down; there will be time to grieve later, for Passy and for everyone else who died to get Ciel here, but for now she has to focus, has to _act_.

Has to wake up this Reploid, who may or may not be willing to help her save the world from a problem she created.

" _Hurry up, Ciel_!" Milan hollers, stumbling backwards into the center of the room as he fires off a rapid volley of shots at the approaching horde of Pantheons.

Ciel bolts towards the unknown Reploid, hastily deactivating the stasis protocols even as she prays that she's making the right decision. "Please," she whispers. "Please help us."

The Reploid opens his eyes right as Milan is sent flying backwards by a Pantheon attack, his Buster clattering to the floor and skidding away as he struggles to regain his footing.

Ciel spins around, terrified that she's about to see another friend die right before her eyes. "Milan, no!"

"Ciel," Milan says hoarsely, panting for breath. " _Run!_ "

"There's nowhere to go," Ciel replies, feeling more helpless than she has in years, ever since she first realized that what should have been her greatest success was in fact her greatest and most tragic failure. "It's too late…"

The Pantheons step forward, arm cannons aimed straight at her and Milan; they're a split-second away from firing when suddenly there's movement from behind Ciel.

The scarred Reploid is halfway across the room and scooping up Milan's discarded Buster before Ciel can do much more than blink, and he lets loose a hail of shots that tear into the Pantheons, reducing them to heaps of scrap metal almost before Ciel can even really process what she's seeing.

"Are you alright?" the Reploid asks, turning to look at her and Milan once all the Pantheons are eliminated.

"I-" Ciel struggles to come up with something coherent to say, still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she'd been literally seconds way from death only to suddenly have a new lease on life thanks to this total stranger. "I'm fine, thank you," she manages to say at last. "My name is Ciel," she goes on, "and this is Milan." She gestures to her friend, who's favoring his left leg and cradling an injured arm to his chest as he walks over to them. "And you're…?"

"Me?" The Reploid offers up a small smile, tired and confused but sincere. "I'm Axl."

"Axl," Ciel repeats, hoping that something will jog in her memory about who this Reploid is; unfortunately, the name doesn't ring any bells and so she's left just as clueless as before about who's standing in front of her. "Do you know-"

"Ciel, there's no time," Milan interjects, cutting her off. "We need to get out of here, before more Pantheons show up."

Ciel stuffs down the scream of frustration that wants to climb out of her throat and takes a deep breath to settle her nerves. "Yes, of course, you're right, there will time to talk later," she says instead, before looking back over at Axl. "Can you…Will you help us? I know you don't know us, and I know you must have questions, but-"

"No problem," Axl says easily, flashing a cheerful smile that almost but not quite disguises the sharpness of his gaze. "Happy to help." He finally seems to fully notice his surroundings and lets out a low whistle. "Man, this place has really fallen to pieces." A shadow flickers across his face, something that might be grief or regret darkening his expression. "Guess it's been a long time, huh…"

Ciel has _so many questions_ , but she knows that now isn't the right time to indulge in her curiosity; she needs to focus on the here and now, on being practical and focusing on how to survive. "You're familiar with this place, then?"

Axl gives her an odd look. "Yeah, of course. This is where Zero and I agreed that-" He cuts himself off abruptly, shaking his head. "Never mind," he says with a sigh. "I guess it doesn't matter right now." He glances around the room once more. "You're looking for a way out, right? Since the bad guys followed you in from the other way."

Ciel's heart thunders in her chest, because Axl had just said _Zero and I_. Meaning that he knew Zero at some point, which in turn means that maybe her research was correct after all; maybe Zero _should_ have been here, or would have been here in another reality where he and Axl hadn't made a decision about _something_ that had changed things. "A way out would be good," she manages to say, because _tell me everything_ isn't the correct thing to say right now, not with Neo Arcadia's troops hot on their heels.

(It would probably also be a pointless thing to say, if the wary gleam in Axl's gaze is anything to go by; he seems affable enough and is clearly willing to help them for the moment, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's willing to spill his entire life story to a human woman he's just met, simply because she was the first person he saw after coming out of stasis.

Trust has to be earned, after all, and currently they know nothing about one another besides their names.)

Axl makes a considering sound, his expression thoughtful as he surveys the dilapidated ruin of the laboratory. "Alright," he says after a moment, wandering over to inspect a particular patch of wall that looks exactly like all the rest of it. "If I'm remembering Signas's security briefing correctly, there should be an entrance to a hidden tunnel right around… _here_." He presses a hand against a small depression in the wall and a panel in the wall slides to the side with a screech and a shower of rust, exposing the aforementioned tunnel.

Ciel's never been so happy to see a dank and dusty tunnel in her life; with any luck it'll lead to someplace with a Trans Server that she can use to teleport them to the Resistance base. "That's great! Do you know where it comes out?"

Axl tips one shoulder in a slight shrug. "Assuming that nothing collapsed and we don't have to find an alternate route, the main tunnel comes out a few klicks away from here in another facility."

"A few klicks?" Ciel echoes, confused.

"Kilometers," Axl offers in explanation before glancing over his shoulder at Ciel and Milan. "You two are looking a little worse for wear," he observes, seeming to take notice of Milan's injuries and Ciel's ragged appearance. "Why don't I take point and you can follow behind me?"

"Works for me," Milan says at once. "I'm not much use right now anyway," he adds as he holds up his injured arm. "I doubt I could even _hold_ that Buster right now much less fire it with as much accuracy as you can, so you hold onto it for as long as you like."

"Ah, well." Axl gives a faintly bashful grin. "I'm sure you'd do fine even without me here, but I am pretty good with guns so that's probably for the best." The smile fades a bit as he takes one last look around the lab, his gaze lingering on the remnants of the Pantheons before he ducks into the tunnel with a muttered curse. "Alright, let's get out of here before more of those creeps show up. You guys let me know if you need to stop and rest though, okay?"

"We shouldn't stop until we get to somewhere safe," Milan says, right as Ciel says, "Please don't worry on our account; we can keep up."

Axl gives a small snort, looking amused but unconvinced; Ciel doesn't know if that's because Ciel is human and Milan is injured, or simply because Axl is used to very few people being able to keep up with him (if he really is an old associate of Maverick Hunter Zero's, it might even be a combination of the two). "Let me know if you need to take a breather," he reiterates, and then he's gone, vanishing into the darkness of the tunnel.

Ciel takes a deep breath, hoping desperately that she hasn't put her faith in the wrong Reploid, and plunges in after him with Milan pulling up the rear.

 _Please_ , she thinks, _let this be the right choice_.


	2. Chapter 2: The Awakening (Part II)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so! I was going to wait a full week before I posted another chapter, but you know what? My birthday is tomorrow (the 23rd) and my gift to myself is to inflict more of my Megaman Zero AU on all of you. ;D So have a new chapter, this time from Axl's POV! There are some serious parts, some slightly more light-hearted parts, and on the whole I like how it turned out so I hope you guys enjoy this latest installment!

**Chapter 2: The Awakening (Part II)**

* * *

Axl has _no idea_ what's going on.

Well, that's not entirely true; there are some basics he's got down, like who he is and why he was in stasis, but the specifics? The finer details that would fill out the big picture?

He's got nothing.

He knows _where_ he is, but he has no idea how _long_ he's been in stasis; given the state of the lab when he'd awoken, it's been _much_ longer than anyone planned for it to be. He also doesn't know anything about what he's up against; he'd reacted on instinct to protect the human woman and her Reploid guard, but a closer look at the enemies he'd taken down had revealed a cluster of Reploids that bore a faint yet deeply unsettling resemblance to X.

It's enough to make him queasy if he thinks about it for too long, so he carefully boxes up that thought and shuffles it to the back of his mind to be unpacked later; whatever else is going on, he promised Ciel and Milan that he'd help them get to safety, so that's what he needs to focus on for now.

He can figure out everything else later.

So he concentrates on leading the human woman and her Reploid friend safely through the science lab's evacuation tunnels, trying not to think about how old everything looks and how there hadn't been a single familiar face around when he opened his eyes.

( _This is where Zero and I agreed that he and X would be there when I woke up_ , Axl had almost said to Ciel; he'd cut himself off mid-sentence because there's no point lingering on that promise when it's obvious that neither X nor Zero are here, but the facts of the situation remain unchanged.

He's clearly been in stasis for a _long_ time, which means any number of things could have gone wrong between the day he'd gone under and now.

And if the state of the lab and the absence of his friends means anything, clearly a lot things _have_ gone wrong.

He's just going to have to figure out what.)

Their largely uneventful trek through the evacuation tunnel comes to a sudden screeching halt when they round a corner and are greeted with a pile of rubble where one wall of the tunnel has caved in, blocking their way forward.

"Oh, dear," Ciel says, looking distressed. "It looks like this passage has collapsed. Should we go back?"

Axl scrubs a hand down his face for a moment, feeling frustrated (because why can't just _one thing_ go according to plan), before setting down the Buster and moving towards the closest chunk of rock. "Nah, it's fine, just give me a second to shift some of this out of the way."

Ciel hesitates, looking uncertain about staying in one place for too long, then nods in deferment to his judgment. "Alright," she says at last, "Milan and I will-"

Axl doesn't ever actually find out what she and Milan were going to do, because out of absolutely nowhere a giant hand smashes through the wall behind Ciel's head and snatches her up off the ground.

Axl drops the boulder he'd been rolling out of the way and lunges for the Buster he'd set down. "What is that thing?!"

"It's a Golem," Milan shouts, scrambling out of the way as the giant monster drags Ciel into the next room.

"Axl, Milan, run!" Ciel screams as she vanishes from sight. "You can't defeat something like this!"

Axl grins, sharp and anticipatory, and charges forward. "We'll see about that," he says.

The Golem swings a fist right down towards Axl's head as he emerges into the room but Axl's got a lifetime of battle instincts to call on and dodges out of the way easily, firing off a quick volley of shots as he jumps to the side.

To his consternation, however, most of the shots ping uselessly off the Golem's thick armor. "Ugh," Axl says, wishing he had one of his own pistols instead of the battered Buster in his hand; unfortunately, he'd entrusted them to X and Zero for safekeeping before going into stasis, which means he's got to work with what he has available. "Looks like I'll need to aim a little more carefully to bring this big guy down."

"Axl, just run!" Ciel cries out. "Forget about me and go! You can't beat a Golem with just a Buster!"

It pricks at his pride a little, the lack of faith in his abilities, but Axl soothes himself with the reminder that Ciel doesn't _know_ him, doesn't know his history or what he's capable of.

"Don't worry, Ciel," he says, calmly pinpointing the Golem's most vulnerable spots and lining up his aim accordingly. "Everything's going to be okay."

Ciel somehow looks even more terrified than before. "Axl-"

Axl fires and a barrage of energy shots burst from the Buster, slicing through the air to slam into the chinks in the Golem's armor where its joints are exposed.

The massive Mechaniloid's grip on Ciel goes slack, and Axl darts in to grab her and pull her free just as the Golem collapses completely.

One more well-placed shot to the Golem's head ends the fight for good (until someone finds it and repairs it, at least) and Axl takes a moment to check his weapon for damage while Ciel catches her breath.

"Are you injured?" he asks her, leading the way back over to the gap in the wall where Milan is waiting for them.

"N-no, I'm fine," Ciel responds, face pale and hands shaking like she's still in shock from everything. "How…how did you do that?"

Axl frowns at her as they clamber over the rubble and back into the tunnel. "Do what?" he asks, confused.

"Bring down the Golem," she says, as if it should be obvious. "No one I've ever met has been able to defeat a Golem, not on their own like that. You would have to be as powerful as one of the legendary Maverick Hunters to pull it off!"

Axl gives a short huff of laughter before he can stop himself. "Well, I actually _am_ a Maverick Hunter, believe it or not." Then he remembers the ruined lab and the absence of his friends, and his laughter dies, fading into something more melancholy. "I used to be, at least."

"Wait, hold on a minute," Milan says, whipping his head around to gape at Axl. " _You_ were a Maverick Hunter?"

Axl can't decide if the blatant disbelief is annoying or amusing; in the end he decides that he doesn't actually care enough to be insulted and so he lets his mouth quirk up in a wry smile. "I was," he confirms.

"But…" Ciel shakes her head. "All the records I went through, my ancestor's journals…there was never any mention of you. We came here looking for Zero," she adds. "According to my research, _he_ should have been in that stasis chamber, not you.

Axl shrugs. "I don't know what to tell you," he says. "I mean, there _was_ originally a plan to put Zero into stasis and yeah, that would've happened here, but…"

"But?" Milan prompts.

"But we made a different choice," Axl says curtly, hoping that the finality in his tone will close the proverbial door on this particular line of questioning; it's not really a conversation he's ready to have right now, especially not with people he's literally just met.

Ciel, at least, seems to take the hint and simply murmurs, "I see," before letting the conversation subside into silence.

That silence holds for several long minutes, until they reach a point in the tunnel where it branches off in two different directions.

"Which way leads out?" Milan asks, peering down the lefthand tunnel before turning to peer down the one on the right, his mouth pursed in a contemplative frown.

"...I have no idea," Axl admits, racking his mind but coming up empty on anything useful. "These tunnels were mostly just a last-ditch escape route for the researchers in the event of an emergency; I don't know much about them other than how to get in and how far away they lead." After all, if there was an attack on a science facility associated with the Maverick Hunters, his priority would have been to neutralize the threat rather than scamper through the tunnels himself, so knowing the details had never been a necessity.

"Well, we need to pick a path and pick it quickly," Milan remarks, glancing over his shoulder uneasily. "The enemy can't be far behind us, so the sooner we get out of there the better."

Axl hums in acknowledgement, even as part of him wants to grab someone and shake them for answers because _what is going on here_. "I agree," he says in response to Milan's statement, "but I still don't know which way to go."

As if in answer, the ambient lighting along the walls of the right hand tunnel light up, pulsing first with blue light then with red.

"Huh," is all Axl can think of to say, watching as the lights go from red to blue and then back again, all the while pulsing gently, almost like Morse code but without any true meaning that Axl can discern.

"...That's weird," is Milan's verdict, and Ciel nods in agreement.

"You know what," Axl decides after a moment of careful consideration, "weird is fine. I'll take weird." He starts walking towards the right-hand tunnel, the low strobing of the lights oddly in time with his footsteps.

Milan makes an indignant noise. "You can't be serious! You're just going to follow the ominous glowing lights?"

"What makes you think they're ominous?" Axl asks lightly, not slowing his stride. "Maybe they're friendly."

Milan's answering groan is half despairing and half resigned. "You know that this is probably a trap, right? Because this has 'trap' written all over, in neon letters. I mean, those lights shouldn't even be functional in the first place; this place has probably been out of power for a century at least."

"It's possible that it's a trap," Axl acknowledges. "But I really think that it'll be okay."

"What makes you so sure?" Ciel asks, seemingly torn between worry and curiosity.

"I don't know," Axl says honestly. "Just a hunch, really." The lights stop pulsing and subside in a soft blue glow that washes across them as they walk, and Axl really can't explain it but something about it feels safe, feels _familiar_. "Besides," he adds, injecting a little extra cheer into his voice, "there's a fifty-fifty chance that this is the tunnel that leads out. Those are pretty good odds, don't you think?"

Milan groans again, but pulls up the rear as they proceed down the tunnel. "Are you sure that you're a _real_ Maverick Hunter?" he gripes.

Axl grins. "Oh yeah," he says. "I'm sure."

The lit tunnel leads them to a small storage room that in turn leads to another tunnel, this one helpfully marked with a sign above the entrance saying EXIT.

"Unbelievable," Milan mutters, seeming almost insulted that it didn't turn out to be a trap.

"Aw, don't be so disappointed," Axl teases. "It's totally possible that the trap is just farther ahead!"

Milan shoots him a sullen glare. "You're not funny," he grumbles.

"Excuse you, I am _hilarious_ ," Axl says, and then abruptly forgets everything he'd been about to say when his gaze catches on a glass case tucked into the corner of the room, half-hidden behind a stack of packing crates. "How did you end up here," he murmurs, crossing the room to inspect the case even as something like excitement kicks up in his chest. "I left you with Zero…"

"Axl?" Ciel's voice echoes out from behind him, sounding faintly concerned. "Who are you talking to?"

"Not who, what," Axl corrects, and lets out a little chuckle of amazement because _this is one of his guns_ , tucked away safe and sound.

He has absolutely no idea _why_ it's here of all places, because he distinctly remembers giving this one to Zero for safekeeping while the other gun went to X, but honestly at this point he doesn't _care_ how bizarre it is to find one of his weapons in a random escape tunnel after waking up from stasis. Like he'd told Milan earlier, weird is fine; after all, things are weird enough already, what's a little more strangeness stacked on top of everything else?

"Are you familiar with that weapon?" Milan asks, coming over to peer at the case with him.

"Very," Axl responds, brushing some dust off of the security keypad that's keeping the case locked. "It's mine. One of a pair," he adds absently, frowning at the numbers of the keypad.

"Do you know the code?" Ciel asks.

Axl shakes his head. "No. I don't know what it could be." Especially since there's no way to know for certain _how_ his gun came to be here; sure, he'd left it with Zero, but does that really _mean_ anything at this point? Zero's clearly not around, otherwise Axl wouldn't have woken up in a lab that probably hasn't been used in several decades at least. And while it does seem awfully convenient, one of his weapons being down here in the tunnels not far from where he'd been in stasis, Axl has seen stranger coincidences during his time as a Hunter.

It could mean nothing, finding his gun here.

Or it could mean everything.

Axl's honestly not sure which possibility he prefers.

He _wants_ to believe that it means something, he realizes with a start of surprise as he mulls it over. He wants to believe that it was Zero who put this gun here, hoping that Axl would stumble across it if he woke up and had to use that emergency escape route.

"Well, one way to find out," Axl mutters to himself, because if it _was_ Zero who put the gun here, knowing that Axl would find it and recognize it, then there's really only one numerical password it could possibly be.

Axl reaches out a hand, presses a single digit on the keypad, and then hits the ENTER key.

The case pops open with a soft hiss, and Axl feels a thrill of triumph shoot through his chest.

"The passcode was zero?" Milan asks, the incredulity clear in his voice. "That's it? No complicated numerical passcode, just a zero? One single digit, _are you kidding me_."

Axl shrugs, picking up his gun and twirling it experimentally to test the weight. _Still perfect_ , he thinks with satisfaction as his finger comes to rest on the trigger after a couple of smooth rotations, the feel of the pistol in his hand so familiar that he could recognize it with his eyes closed. "Before I went into stasis, I left this gun _with_ Zero," he offers in explanation. "The passcode makes sense, given that."

"Makes sense to _whom_ ," Milan demands. "Man, were all of you Maverick Hunters this ridiculous?"

Axl grins despite the twist of grief in his gut. "Some of us more than others," he acknowledges, remembering some of the more absurd scrapes he and his friends had gotten into over the years. "But we don't have time to talk about any of that now," he goes on, shaking his head and dragging his thoughts back to the present. "Those creeps are probably still chasing us, so let's get going." He holds out the Buster towards Milan as they proceed down the tunnel that will theoretically lead them to an exit. "Do you want this back?" he asks, jiggling the weapon slightly.

"Nah, you hang onto it for now," Milan says. "My arm still doesn't feel right and it can't hurt for you to have a back-up in case your pistol jams."

"This pistol never jams," Axl retorts, vaguely offended.

"It _has_ been sitting unused for a very long time," Ciel points out. "Having the Buster in case of a malfunction might not be a bad idea."

Axl rolls his eyes but relents, tucking the Buster away. "Okay, fine, whatever. Now let's go see where this tunnel comes out."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was the second chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! Chapter 3 will probably be posted sooner rather than later, because I'm super excited about it. It's going to be a pretty intense chapter and will include Axl learning about Copy X, so that's, uh…going to be interesting to say the very least. ;D See you soon!


	3. Chapter 3: The Last Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, my friends! Thank you so much for all your amazing feedback, you guys are the best! The response I've gotten for this story has been incredible and I'm glad that you're all having fun so far! That being said, this chapter is a bit more intense than the last couple chapters in that there is a conversation between Ciel and Axl about Neo Arcadia, which (as you might imagine) leads to quite a bit of…what's the word I'm looking for? Ah yes, angst. Lots of angst in this chapter for poor Axl. Also there's a flashback! Enjoy! ;D

**Chapter 3: The Last Hope**

* * *

As it turns out, the tunnel comes out in another abandoned research lab, but this one has the notable advantage of having something that Ciel calls a Trans Server.

"It can transport us back to the Resistance Base," she tells Axl excitedly, looking hopeful for the first time since he met her (granted, that was only about two hours ago, but still). "Let me see if I can get it operational…" She wanders over to the large machine and begins fiddling with the controls.

Axl and Milan exchange looks and leave her to it, taking up lookout positions while she works.

Ciel apparently has a knack for getting old machines up and running again, because soon the Trans Server is humming to life, little waves of rust falling off of it as chugs and sputters. "Now all I need to do is input the correct coordinates," Ciel murmurs, tapping away at the the command console, "and then work in a program that will erase them once we're gone so no enemies can follow us."

Axl's estimation of Ciel's intelligence ratchets up another notch as she seemingly accomplishes this in just under five minutes, and before he can really think about whether or not he should be following a virtual stranger into a decrepit teleportation machine they're being dematerialized and transported into the ether.

They arrive at what is presumably the Resistance Base that Ciel had spoken of, although what exactly they're resisting Axl doesn't know; he suspects he'll find out sooner rather than later, but for now he keeps his questions to himself.

"Welcome to our Resistance Base, Axl," Ciel says, the relief at making it here shining through her smile. "This place is a shelter for injured Reploids who have been unjustly accused of being Mavericks by the leaders of Neo Arcadia."

"Yeah, and with you here maybe we finally stand a chance at bringing down X," Milan pitches in before he's hustled off by a medical team to get his injuries taken care of.

"The Maverick virus was eradicated years ago," Axl says automatically in response to Ciel, because he _knows_ that, he was _there_. He still remembers everything that had gone into the effort (up to and including Zero's original body so the scientists working on the project could have access to pure samples of the virus, and hadn't that been a miserable time for everyone despite the fact that Zero had come out perfectly fine in the end), and he _knows for a fact_ that it worked.

Of course, the world had promptly nose-dived straight into another worldwide conflict, but still.

Then Milan's words finish processing and every other thought grinds to a sudden and screeching halt. "Wait, what did he mean _bringing down X_?" Axl demands, whirling to pin Ciel in a fierce look. "What was he talking about?"

Ciel's gaze darts to the side, like she's afraid of looking him in the eye. "Well, it's…it's a very complicated situation," she begins haltingly, radiating a nervous energy that almost comes across like guilt.

" _What did he mean?_ " Axl repeats, something that might be alarm fluttering in his chest because he's just woken up after who knows how long in stasis and now he's keeping company with people who are accused of being Mavericks and are pitting themselves against someone named X.

"...We should discuss this somewhere more private," Ciel says after a moment, shooting uneasy glances around at her fellow Resistance members, as if she's uncomfortable with them overhearing the conversation. "My lab is this way, if you'll follow me?"

Axl takes a deep breath, forces himself to follow after her without shouting for answers, and tries to keep his panic contained until they reach Ciel's workroom. "Explain what Milan meant," he says once Ciel has closed the door behind them to ensure privacy. "About X."

"He didn't…He isn't…" Ciel breaks off, chewing on her lower lip before continuing. "I think you've misunderstood. The X we're fighting…he's not the original."

Axl opens his mouth, closes it, then shakes his head. "I'm sorry, _what_."

"He's not the original X," Ciel repeats, but it doesn't make any more sense to him than the first time she said it.

"...Start at the beginning," he says at last.

"To do that, I'll have to start by explaining Neo Arcadia," she answers, taking a deep breath as if gearing up for a big lecture but Axl cuts her off with a quick gesture.

"No, skip the history lesson," he tells her impatiently. "I was around during the Elf Wars, I remember when X founded Neo Arcadia."

Ciel's eyes go wide. "You were _there_?"

Axl gives a little hum of agreement, trying not to let the memories of the war's aftermath drag him down. "He wanted to create a place where both humans and Reploids could live their lives in peace. And not a lot of the world was habitable after…everything, so people flocked from all over to live there." He still remembers how _proud_ X had been, to finally be truly working towards a real lasting peace after so many years of fighting.

One of Axl's main regrets about going into stasis all those years ago had been knowing that he wouldn't be there with X and Zero to watch Neo Arcadia grow; they'd all agreed that he was the best choice for it, though, and so he'd done it.

"For you to be on the run from Neo Arcadia now," he goes on, "I'm guessing something must have gone wrong? Unless of course your precious Resistance really _is_ made up of Mavericks."

"It isn't," Ciel says quickly, defensive. "We're just trying to survive, we don't want to hurt anybody."

"So tell me why they're after you. What went wrong?"

"About a hundred years after the Elf Wars, after Neo Arcadia was already pretty well-established, the Dark Elf resurfaced."

Axl curses under his breath. "Of course she did. I'll bet Weil had something to do with that, too…"

"Weil?" Ciel echoes, looking confused. "Who's what?"

Axl shakes his head. "He's…Never mind. It's a long story for another time." That story is also why he'd gone into stasis in the first place, but it's really not something he feels up to discussing right now. "You said the Dark Elf came back. But what does that have to do with this…fake X? Where did he come from?"

Ciel takes a deep breath, her hands visibly shaking. "Well, when the Dark Elf reappeared, X -the original one- decided that the only way to truly neutralize it was to seal it away. But the only thing that could contain a Cyber Elf that powerful was his own body," she adds.

"So he sacrificed himself," Axl realizes, feeling sick. "X, you _moron_ …"

"It was a noble thing to do," Ciel says hotly, mouth turning down in a surprisingly fierce scowl that vaguely reminds him of an expression that one of the government scientists back in his day had made whenever someone ticked her off. "You have no right to insult him like that!"

"He was one of my best friends, I'll insult him for being a martyr as much as I want," Axl retorts, even as a dark wave of grief surges up in his chest because _X is gone_. A hundred years gone, if Ciel's story is true.

 _X sacrificed himself to protect everyone, and I wasn't there_ , he thinks, and the grief gets tangled up in guilt, nearly choking him.

All this time spent waiting to rejoin his friends, and he's already too late.

"Where was Zero during this?" he asks, voice rough. "You can't tell me he didn't object to that plan."

Ciel shrugs helplessly. "Zero had already vanished by then. According to what records I've managed to salvage, he disappeared a few years before X sealed away the Dark Elf," she goes on to explain. "The journal that I inherited from my ancestor talked about plans for him to go into stasis so we assumed that that's what happened, but we found _you_ there instead so I guess that theory was wrong…"

"Uh, yeah," Axl manages to say after a moment. "Zero didn't go into stasis back then. We talked to a team of scientists about it once, before the Elf Wars had even started, but there were…extenuating circumstances."

He can still remember that day so vividly in his mind, all of them crowded into a meeting room to discuss a way to end the Maverick threat for good.

* * *

" _I don't like it," Zero says once it's just the three of them again, the team of scientists ushered off so that they can discuss things more privately. "And not just because it would mean leaving you two to fight without me backing you up."_

_X gives his friend a look. "Zero…"_

" _I'm serious," Zero insists. "The odds aren't good, X. Even if my consciousness is transferred to this replica body without any problems-"_

" _Which seems like a pretty big_ _ **if**_ _to me," Axl puts in, looking up from the report he's reading with a worried frown. "I know these people are supposed to be brilliant, but nothing like this has been done before."_

_Zero tips his head in acknowledgement of Axl's point before continuing. "And even if that does work, you heard what the scientists said: there's no guarantee that my consciousness could make it through a hibernation period intact in a fake body. In my original body, it wouldn't be an issue; any damage done to my neural network would be healed almost instantaneously by my auto-repair systems. But in a replica body? There's no telling what could happen; I could lose all my memories and come out of stasis not even being_ _**me** _ _." He shakes his head, looking troubled. "I've had enough brushes with amnesia as it is, X; I don't want to lose my identity completely."_

" _So then we'll tell them to take a hike," Axl says._

" _It's not that simple, Axl," X says tiredly. "The specifications for the government's plan are very clear: they need Zero's body so they can have access to pure samples of the Maverick Virus, otherwise this so-called Mother Elf project of theirs won't be effective in creating sufficient antibodies in the Reploids it comes into contact with."_

" _That's not the part of the plan I have a problem with," Zero points out. "They can do whatever they want with my original body, and I'll take my chances in the replica body that scientist woman says she can build. That's an acceptable risk, given what's at stake. But I will_ _ **not**_ _," he goes on stridently, "allow myself to be put into stasis while you and Axl are still out here having to fight Mavericks."_

" _You say that like fighting Mavericks is a chore," Axl says dryly. "You know I'm always up for a good fight."_

" _Yes, and I also know that sometimes even you get tired of how it_ _ **never ends**_ _," Zero fires back. "We've been fighting Mavericks for years now." He looks over at X pointedly. "I know you don't want this to go on any longer," he says quietly, because his friend has always hated pointless fighting; no matter how good he is on the battlefield, X despises using violence to bring about peace and always has (although it's been noticeably more pronounced in the recent years, as their struggle against the Mavericks continues to go on without any end in sight). It's something that had made him and Axl butt heads so often back when they first met, Axl's trigger-happy pragmatism clashing with X's more pacifistic mindset._

" _That's why this Cyber Elf project is so important," X reminds him. "If those scientists can finally find a cure for the virus…"_

" _I know," Zero says. "It would change everything. And I agree, it's absolutely a project that should move forward. Which is why they can have my body, and I'll transfer my consciousness into the replica. But me going into stasis is a bad idea, and not one I'm willing to gamble on. Not right now, at least. I refuse to sleep through whatever happens next, I don't care what those eggheads say about wanting to 'preserve me for the future'. I want to stay in the here and now, with you."_

_X sighs, but there's a faint smile curving up the corner of his mouth. "I'm not going to win this argument, am I?"_

_Zero smiles. "No, you aren't."_

" _Alright, fine then," X says, relenting. "You win. Let's go tell them our decision."_

* * *

Axl shakes his head, dragging his thoughts back into the present. "So...the fake X," he prompts again, because he's definitely starting to sense a pattern here and it's that Ciel clearly doesn't want to talk about this particular subject. To him, that's all the more reason to keep poking at the topic until answers come out. "Where does he come in? After the X I knew sacrificed himself to stop the Dark Elf, I assume."

Ciel gives a jerky nod. "Neo Arcadia managed to get by without X's leadership for a few decades. But everyone who was there…well, they came to Neo Arcadia for _him_. Because they trusted him, believed in him and the future he was trying to build for all of us. Without him there, they started to lose hope. _We_ started to lose hope." She swallows hard. "So we thought…we thought what if we just build another X."

Axl stares at her, entirely at a loss for how to respond. "I don't….you… _what_." He paces from one end of the room to the other, tugging on his hair in frustration. "You can't just _build another X_ ," he says angrily. "It doesn't work like that!"

"We know that _now_ ," Ciel replies, her tone a strange combination of guilty and defensive. "Besides, we weren't really trying to recreate him, we just…we wanted someone to lead Neo Arcadia, someone who could protect us, but the only person that humans and Reploids alike both trusted was X." She rubs at her face, wiping away tears that Axl hadn't noticed falling. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. And it did work at first! But then he…then he went wrong somehow."

Axl _really_ doesn't want to hear anymore, but forces himself to stay put rather than run screaming from the room. "Went wrong how," he asks flatly.

"I don't know what happened exactly to set him off, but he's decided that Reploids are a threat to humanity. _All_ Reploids," she adds. "He thinks that if he can eliminate enough Reploids, the energy crisis that humanity is struggling with right now will go away. We -the Resistance- have been trying to stop him, but…" She shakes her head, looking despondent. "Well, it's a bit of a losing battle, since he has the entire might of Neo Arcadia at disposal. He's taken complete control of everything, and rules with an iron fist. Anyone who speaks out is labeled a Maverick and executed. Everyone in this base now," she says, gesturing vaguely to indicate the building around them, "is either a Reploid that he's tried to have killed or a human who spoke out and was labeled a Maverick sympathizer. The worst part is that he believes that what he's doing is right," she adds sadly. "He really thinks that he's protecting humanity by exterminating Reploids, and he believes that his reasoning is infallible because he was designed to be a perfect copy of X."

"I feel like I'm going to throw up," Axl mutters, closing his eyes and desperately hoping that this is just some sort of vivid hallucination brought on by hibernation sickness that he'll break free from soon. Because surely a situation _this_ nightmarish can't be real.

The thought of X sacrificing his life was bad enough on its own, never mind that it made sense for X to do it given his dedication to protecting the world. It's painful for Axl to think about and he wishes that X had found another way to neutralize the Dark Elf, but even so he understands it. He _hates_ it, but he gets it.

But the thought of this new X, this _fake_ X, taking everything that the world's greatest Maverick Hunter had built and twisting it into some sort of ruthless anti-Reploid regime?

He hates that _infinitely_ more. It makes Axl want to scream, and then tear the whole thing apart brick by brick.

"I'm sorry," Ciel says quietly, looking like she's about to start crying again. "I didn't realize… _We_ didn't realize that it could go so wrong. We were just trying to help."

"You keep saying 'we' like you were there," Axl realizes, his mind catching on that one detail and clinging to it because if he thinks too hard about the rest of it right now he's going to lose it. "Were you involved in it? Making a copy of X?"

"I was very young at the time, but yes, I was," Ciel admits. "Thanks to some technological advances in altering human DNA that were developed within the last century I'm a bit of a prodigy, so I was assigned to Neo Arcadia's science division when I was little more than a child. When the decision was made to create a duplicate of X, I was one of the head researchers on the team despite my youth and relative inexperience." Her expression crumples into something regretful and forlorn. "He was supposed to be our greatest achievement," she murmurs wistfully. "A perfect copy to lead us into a perfect future."

A bitter, angry part of Axl wants to ask _how's that working out for you?_ but he tamps down on the feeling and doesn't open his mouth until he's sure something cruel won't come out. There's no point in berating Ciel, not when she clearly regrets her role in this nightmare, so he carefully bottles up his rage and sets it aside for later, for when he can unleash it in a more productive capacity.

"How can I help?" he asks instead.


	4. Chapter 4: The Disposal Center

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, everybody! Thanks as always for the amazing feedback on everything so far! Every single comment I get for this story makes me so unbelievably happy, seriously. And I'm super thrilled with the overwhelming response to the previous chapter; it's always satisfying for an author when the angst is effective, lol. Anyway, this chapter picks up pretty much where the last one left off, with Axl talking to Ciel and then going on his first official mission for the Resistance. Enjoy!

**Chapter 4: The Disposal Center**

* * *

Ciel stares at Axl like he's the first sunrise she's seen after years of darkness. "You'll…help us? Really?"

Axl finds the intensity of her expression a bit unnerving, honestly, because that's a lot of fragile hope packed into one gaze but he nods. "I'll do what I can," he says, because he doesn't even know where to _start_ when it comes to fixing this unbelievable nightmare of a future (well, his present now, he supposes) but he has to start _somewhere_ because he absolutely can't let things continue on like this.

He can't let a megalomaniacal copy of his friend and mentor ruin everything he and the other Maverick Hunters fought so hard for; he refuses to see X's memory be tainted and tarnished in such a way, refuses to let X's sacrifice be in vain.

He doesn't know if he's got what it takes to confront the imposter directly (if this duplicate really was designed to be a perfect copy then his battle skills must be considerable, and that's not even factoring the disadvantage Axl will have from the mental hang-ups of fighting someone who by design must look _exactly_ like his old friend) but at the very least he can wreak havoc on Neo Arcadia's omnicidal operations on behalf of the Resistance.

"There's a facility," Ciel says now. "It's called the Disposal Center. It's where Neo Arcadia sends a lot of the Reploids who are accused of being Mavericks," she explains. "The whole facility is dedicated to 'retiring' Reploids, many of whom have never done anything wrong in their lives. They're _innocent_ , but they're being ruthlessly decommissioned simply because Copy X considers them expendable for the sake of humanity." Ciel shakes her head, looking furious and grief-stricken all at once. "We've never been able to mount a successful operation against that facility before. None of the Resistance soldiers are strong enough to stand up to Neo Arcadia's forces. But now that we have you here…I think we might stand a chance." Her gaze turns pleading. "Please, Axl, you have to help us shut the Disposal Center down. Even as we speak, countless Reploids could be losing their lives, one after another. To prevent the loss of additional Reploid life, that facility _must_ be destroyed."

Axl nods, a fierce sort of determination crystallizing in his chest. "Okay," he says. "I can do that."

"You'll need to be fast," Ciel warns, going over to her main computer console and pulling up what seems to be a basic layout of the facility in question. "The security measures there are no joke; the last five Resistance operatives we sent in were captured within moments of gaining entrance."

Axl gives a low chuckle. "Oh, don't worry about that," he says. "Infiltration is a speciality of mine; I should be able to get in without any trouble." All he'll have to do is use his special ability to copy the DNA data of a random security guard or something and he's set. "Tell me more about the operatives that have gone in before; are they still there somewhere, or have they been decommissioned already?"

Ciel shakes her head. "I'm not sure," she says uncertainly. "We received a message a few days ago, saying that they would be spared if the rest of us turned ourselves in, but we haven't heard anything since."

Axl considers that information, turning it over in his mind and examining it from different angles before speaking. "If they are still alive," he says at last, "where in the facility do you think they'd be? Is there some sort of containment area where they keep Reploids before they're executed?"

Ciel frowns, turning back to the schematic with an assessing gaze. "Yes, there's a series of holding cells spread throughout the facility. It's possible that you could find them there if they're still alive."

"Great," Axl says. "Then that's where I'll start. I'll set free any prisoners I come across, and then I'll put the Disposal Center out of operation for good."

Ciel gives him a shaky smile, all but radiating relief. "That's…that's really great. Thank you so much, Axl." She reaches out to type something on her console. "I'll send a message to our command center; they can work out the logistics of getting you there as soon as possible."

"Thanks," Axl replies. "Let me knows when everything's ready."

Ciel nods. "I will," she promises.

* * *

The mission itself goes pretty smoothly to start out with; Axl copies the appearance of a security Reploid which nets him easy access to the Disposal Center; he manages to make it through all of the security measures without incident, only dropping the disguise once he's made it to the deeper sections of the facility where there don't seem to be any real security patrols, just automated maintenance droids.

He sets free any captured Reploids he comes across, sneaking them out of the facility in small groups of three or four so that no security systems are triggered by a mass exodus of prisoners.

He even manages to find four out of the five Resistance members that had been taken prisoner, freeing them from their holding cells and fitting them with the single-use teleportation beacons that Ciel had given to him before his departure from the Resistance base so they can get back to headquarters without having to trek through the Disposal Center in their weakened condition.

(The fifth Resistance Reploid, he learns, was already decommissioned three days previously; it feels like a failure, being unable to bring the entire team home safe, but he reminds himself that there's literally nothing he could have done; he was still in stasis three days ago, there's no way he could have intervened in time to save that Reploid.)

In any case, it all goes fairly smoothly…right up until he reaches the heart of the facility, intending to blow up the generators powering the whole operation.

"Oh ho, what do we have here?" a bird-themed Reploid croons, swooping down at him from the ceiling before landing directly in front of him, blocking his path to the generators. "Guardian Harpuia sent me on a simple mission to make sure that everything is running smoothly here, and what do I find but a little _mouse_ scurrying around in the shadows."

Axl draws his pistol and gives a cocky smirk that he _knows_ irritates his enemies. "I'd be careful about who you call a mouse, bird-brain," he advises.

The tall Reploid almost visibly bristles with indignation. "You dare to insult me," he hisses, bright arcs of electricity cracking from his body as a visual cue of his irritation. "I am Aztec Falcon, a senior member of Sage Harpuia's Strong Air Battalion!"

"Good for you," Axl says cheerfully. "Now get out of my way or take an energy shot to the face." He aims his pistol at Aztec Falcon with calm, deliberate movements to convey his seriousness.

The ensuing fight is fast-paced and furious, with Aztec Falcon swooping down at him from above and unleashing powerful lightning attacks that prove difficult to fully dodge simply because the entire room they're fighting in is made out of metal.

Axl has the advantage of being primarily a long-range fighter, though, his pistol giving him an edge over Falcon who has to get in close to attack and isn't as fast as Axl himself is. So he times his shots carefully, unleashing flurries of energy bullets whenever his opponent starts to swoop down from above, driving him back and forcing him to put more distance between them while Axl calculates how to bring this fight to a conclusion before reinforcements can arrive.

Finally, he has Aztec Falcon backed into a corner, with victory all but guaranteed; the other Reploid is half-collapsed in front of him, panting for breath and struggling to stand as Axl approaches.

"Well, go on then," Falcon hisses, glaring at him venomously. "Finish it!"

Axl levels his pistol at Falcon's head and goes to pull the trigger, then hesitates.

He thinks of the facility he just passed through, where countless Reploids have already lost their lives. Thinks of all the pointless destruction and death he's seen or heard about since waking up in this grim nightmare future.

He thinks of X, who fought because he had to but always dreamed of peace. Who always tried to show mercy, no matter how many times his enemies threw that mercy back in his face and taunted him for it.

He thinks of X, weary and worn but always _so_ determined to do the right thing. To look on the brighter side, to hope for the future.

He thinks of X, and lowers his gun. "I'm blowing this place sky-high," he tells Aztec Falcon, ignoring the Reploid's startled squawk as he walks right past him towards the generators. "So you have about five minutes to evacuate the area."

"You…you can't do that!" Falcon shouts, trying to chase after him but too damaged to make it more than a few steps. "If you destroy those generators, all the Mavericks we have locked up here will escape!"

Axl scowls but resists the temptation to turn around. "They're _not_ Mavericks," he snaps. "They're just innocent Reploids who had the bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"What do you mean, they're not Mavericks," Falcon demands, outraged. "My orders were very clear. Master X himself has said that-"

"Why don't you try thinking for yourself for a change," Axl suggests irritably, "instead of just following orders?"

Of course, he's hardly got any room to be throwing stones, not after everything that had gone down with Red Alert, but still. He only ever got to be a Maverick Hunter because he started to question Red's orders, because he started to worry over whether what he was doing was right or wrong and had ultimately decided that there were some lines that even he, in all his pragmatism, wouldn't cross.

Aztec Falcon subsides into a sullen sort of silence and Axl dismisses the other Reploid from his thoughts, focusing instead on the generators in front of him; it takes a moment or two, but after some tinkering he manages to sabotage it so it'll experience an irreparable catastrophic failure within the next two minutes, triggering an unstoppable explosion three minutes after that that will take out the heart of the Disposal Center.

"You have five minutes," he reminds Falcon as he turns away from his handiwork and mentally maps out the most expedient exit route. "I suggest you get going."

Aztec Falcon curses at him, but struggles to his feet and starts hustling towards a door at the other end of the room. Axl watches him long enough to determine that he's moving fast enough to get clear of the explosion and then he departs as well, making his way up to the roof of the facility and activating his own teleportation beacon as soon as the first explosion shakes the building and smoke starts to pour out of the vents.

"Axl," Ciel says, racing up to him once he's clear of the teleportation landing pad. "You're back! How did it go?"

Axl shrugs. "It went…mostly according to plan," he tells her. "Did those Resistance members make it back okay?"

"Yes, they're in the medical bay now, getting treated for their injuries." She then takes him entirely by surprise by leaning forward to wrap him in an awkward but heartfelt hug before stepping away. "I can't thank you enough for saving them."

"I wasn't able to save all of them," he reminds her, thinking of the fifth soldier who'd been decommissioned three days before Axl's arrival.

"I know," Ciel says, regret darkening her features before she gives him a tired smile. "But the ones you did save are unspeakably grateful and so I am. We've been without hope for so long in our fight against Neo Arcadia," she goes on. "But now that you're here…it feels like now we finally stand a chance against them."

Axl isn't sure how he feels about the entire Resistance pinning their hopes for victory on him alone, but he doesn't say anything about it because he promised to help and that's what he's going to do. "I'll do everything I can," he tells her instead, because it's the very least that he can do. "I'm going to go get some rest," he goes on. "Let me know when you have another mission for me, okay?"

Ciel nods. "I will," she assures him.

Axl is about to leave the room, then hesitates on the threshold as something occurs to him. "Hey, Ciel?"

She looks back over at him. "Yes?"

"Would it be possible for me to get access to a computer terminal at some point? I'd like to get caught up on some of the history I missed out on while I was in stasis," he offers in explanation when she gives him a questioning look.

Something that might be sympathy creeps into her expression and she favors him with a sad smile. "Yes, of course," she replies. "Our lead engineer, Cerveau, has a laboratory of sorts set up in an old engine room; I'll see if I can arrange for you to use one of his terminals in your spare time."

"Thanks," Axl says. "I appreciate it."

He spends the next few hours aimlessly wandering through the Resistance base and speaking to the people he comes across. He talks to an elderly-looking Reploid named Andrew, who tells him about how he'd fallen in love with a human once upon a time, how he'd loved her so much that he'd had his own physical form altered so that she didn't grow old by herself. He bumps into a chubby-looking Reploid who calls himself Hibou and asks Axl if he has any Energy Crystals to spare (Axl doesn't, but he promises to share some with Hibou once he does), and later has a heart-warming talk with a small Reploid child named Alouette.

He's not sure why he feels so compelled to talk to these Reploids, but there's no denying the compulsion; he can't explain it, but he wants to know them, to have faces and voices to think of when the question _what am I fighting for_ pops into his head.

Because he knows himself, and as much as he loathes Copy X and what he's done with Neo Arcadia he knows that anger can't be his only motivation going forward. If all he has to keep himself going is hatred, he's going to not only burn out sooner rather than later but also lose sight of _why_ he's helping the Resistance in the first place. He wants to stop Copy X, of course, but he has to remember that he's fighting for a better future, too. He's fighting to bring hope to these people again, after they've struggled so long without it.

And if part of him wants to get to know these people because that's what X would do in his place (X who was always so protective of those under his command, X who would ask about the details of people's lives and then _remember_ those details later), well…that's nobody's business but his own, really.

(Axl woke up far too late to do anything to save X, and that knowledge sits like a weight in his chest, cold and heavy. But that doesn't mean that he can't honor X's memory in whatever little ways he can find.

It's the least he can do, all things considered. And while it doesn't make the grief any less sharp or the feeling of failure any less suffocating…it helps, just a little, to keep himself moving forward instead of just letting those emotions drag him down.

X is gone, but Axl will continue to try to make him proud regardless.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Also, yes, Axl sparing Aztec Falcon's life will absolutely have an impact later on in the story, so that's going to be…fun. :)


	5. Chapter 5: Data Retrieval

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so in the original Megaman Zero game, there's a mission where Zero returns to where Ciel found him because he's hoping to retrieve some data about how he ended up there; since Axl already knows why he was in stasis (something that is absolutely plot relevant, and will be both hinted at in this chapter and eventually addressed more fully later on in the story, I promise!), obviously that's not a mission that exists for him. Instead, we get to have Axl trying to piece together everything he's missed during the years he spent in stasis. Also there's another flashback to the past as well as a mission to destroy a train. Enjoy!
> 
> (And thanks as always for the incredible comments so far! The response that this story has been getting is amazing; you guys are all wonderful and your feedback truly means the world to me.)

**Chapter 5: Data Retrieval**

* * *

Axl spends the next three days at loose ends, wandering the Resistance base and trying to acclimatize to his new reality while Ciel works on gathering information about Neo Arcadia's operations to figure out what their next mission should be.

On the fourth day, Axl finally gets approval to use one of the computer terminals in Cerveau's engineering laboratory, which is both a relief (because it gives himself something else to do while he waits for his next mission) and a stressor (because now he has to actually sit down and do some research into what's gone wrong in the world beyond the obvious, and he's pretty sure that whatever he discovers is not going to make him happy).

He thanks Cerveau for the use of his computer, gets a distracted mumble in response since the other Reploid is preoccupied with some sort of circuit-board he's putting together, and drags a chair over to the computer terminal so he can settle in and get started.

It's frustrating work at first, because almost none of the files the Resistance has are complete; there are gaps in chronology and he encounters whole chunks of data that are either corrupted or missing entirely. And for someone accustomed to working with Navigators like Alia, Layer, and Pallette (who would analyze the data acquired on missions and then pass the pertinent information along without him or the other Hunters having to wade through all of it themselves) it's tedious and aggravating and feels a lot like trying to fill a colander with sand and keep the individual grains of dirt from spilling out.

He keeps at it, though, because there are things he _needs_ to know, questions he has that he doesn't think Ciel or anyone else in the Resistance can answer.

What the hell happened to Zero is one such important question, and probably the one that's the most important o him on a personal level. There are other questions he has, about the command structure of Neo Arcadia aside from Copy X and whether or not Weil is involved behind the scenes in any of this (because Axl hasn't forgotten for one moment why he'd gone into stasis in the first place after the battle with Omega at the end of the Elf Wars), but Zero's complete and total absence from the world has been nagging at him for the last few days.

The more he thinks about it, the more it bothers him.

According to Ciel, Zero had supposedly disappeared a few years before X had sacrificed himself to seal away the Dark Elf for good. That both _does_ and _doesn't_ make sense to Axl. On the one hand, it makes sense because it explains how X was able to sacrifice himself without anyone stopping him (because Axl knows, with absolute certainty, that if Zero had been around at the time he wouldn't have allowed X to go through with it, not without an argument that would've made the history books for sure). On the other hand, it doesn't make any sense _at all_ because out of every single Reploid that Axl has ever met Zero always seemed the one most likely to outlive everyone, whether he's in his original body or not; Axl can't fathom a world where Zero got taken down by an enemy, much less a world where Zero just up and _vanished_.

So Axl spends the better part of five hours scouring through the Resistance's meager collection of files, looking for every single mention of Zero that he can find. He finds all the research that Ciel herself had bookmarked once upon a time, presumably the files she'd been referencing on her own quest to find Zero. It doesn't offer much in the way of useful information since a lot of it is outdated even by his standards and consists mostly of suppositions and nebulous plans that had never come to fruition, but Axl carefully takes note of everything that might be important later.

Eventually, however, he has to give up on finding anything that might tell him what happened to Zero; it frustrates him, but the answers he's looking for obviously aren't going to be in the Resistance database. So he switches gears and starts sifting through the files for mentions of the Dark Elf instead, looking for anything that might explain _why_ it had reappeared when it had and what it had done that necessitated X's sacrifice to stop it. It's not information that's important to his immediate mission of bringing down Copy X but it _is_ critical to his long-term goals moving forward so he forces himself to focus on trying to piece together the series of events that had led to the here and now.

He has a feeling that Weil _had_ to have been involved in _some_ way, because that bastard had turned up like a bad penny during the Elf Wars almost as frequently as Sigma had during the Maverick Wars. And a lot of the worst casualties of those battles could be lain squarely at Weil's doorstep, something that Axl has never forgotten. And even though Weil had mysteriously dropped off the face of the Earth after they'd defeated Omega, Axl knows better than to assume that the lunatic had never tried to make a comeback; Weil isn't the sort of man who would just crawl off and die, as much as Axl wishes otherwise.

He stills remember the first time he'd seen Weil in person, during a large meeting where the Maverick Hunters had gathered together with the government's top scientists to discuss the progress on their latest and greatest project to eradicate the Maverick Virus and thereby save the world.

The meeting itself had been boring as hell, only even remotely of interest to Axl at the time because 1) the results of the project would have a direct impact on the Maverick Hunters an an institution and 2) the project was only moving forward because Zero had allowed his consciousness to be transferred into a replica body so that the scientists could have unencumbered access to the untainted Maverick Virus that was contained within his original body.

If Axl's friends and future had not been central to what was happening, he wouldn't have even attended that meeting in the first place; looking back now, he's glad he'd gone because the conversation that had happened after the meeting had adjourned, with just him and X and Zero? In hindsight, _that_ conversation had been just as important as that meeting, and with just as many lasting consequences for the future.

* * *

" _I don't trust him," Zero says abruptly, gaze narrowed as he watches the science team depart the conference room._

_X glances over at him in surprise. "Who, Weil?" At Zero's nod, he frowns. "Why not?"_

" _I don't know." Zero makes a low sound of frustration. "It's just something about him. Like he's hiding something."_

" _He does seem a bit shady," Axl offers. "I mean, the way he looks at people…it's almost like he's looking_ _ **through**_ _us sometimes, y'know?"_

_X's frown deepens. "I find it hard to believe that the government would let him work on a project of this magnitude if he couldn't be trusted," he points out._

" _Are you absolutely positive about that?" Zero asks. "I mean, they're so desperate to put an end to the Maverick threat that I think they'd hire just about anybody if they guaranteed results."_

" _What are you saying?" X asks, clearly genuinely concerned now because Zero is generally a pretty damn good judge of character and if he says that he doesn't trust Weil…well, X obviously isn't inclined to trust the scientist much either, given that._

" _I'm saying we need to keep an eye on him," Zero replies, expression grim._

_X heaves a sigh. "Fine. Axl, do some surveillance on Weil," he says. "Your shape-shifting abilities should let you get pretty close without anyone getting suspicious. In the meantime, Zero and I can do some discreet digging into his past projects and get a feel for his motivations." He drags a hand tiredly down his face. "With any luck the Mother Elf will be finished soon and this will all be a moot point."_

* * *

Axl drags his thoughts back to the present day with a sigh, and rubs his eyes tiredly as the next cluster of files starts loading up on his screen. "This isn't really getting me anywhere," he mutters to himself, because it's the unfortunate but undeniable truth. All the files he's seen so far have useful information in general but nothing relevant to what he's specifically looking for.

He plugs along at it for another twenty minutes, but his frustration only grows the longer he sits there so in the end he decides to call it a day and give the research a rest for the time-being.

He leaves Cerveau's lab and goes to find Ciel in the command center. "Please tell me you have some sort of mission that I can do."

Ciel glances up from the report she's reviewing. "Axl," she says, looking surprised to see him. "I thought you were taking the day off to review some of our old history files?"

"I was, but I've been at it for-" He does some quick mental math in his head. "-seven and a half hours now, and I'm starting to get a little restless." Not surprising, really; he's a battle Reploid, he's built for action. Sitting in one place is necessary sometimes and he understands that, but given how tense and antsy as he is right now he needs to _move_. "Please tell me you have a mission for me," he says again. With any luck, he can bleed off some of his frustration with a good old-fashioned fight.

Ciel purses her lips, looking thoughtful. "Well, there is a transport train we've been keeping an eye on. It takes supplies and weaponry to Neo Arcadia. It's always heavily protected so we've never attempted to interfere with it before," she adds. "But given your success at the Disposal Center, I think your odds of stopping that train are pretty good."

"Good. Great. When can I leave?"

The look Ciel gives him is somewhere between grateful and amused. "I'll speak to Rouge and Jean," she says, naming the Resistance's two operators, who are responsible for communications and mission logistics. "There are a few things that need to be checked before we send you out, but it shouldn't take more than a few minutes."

"Awesome," Axl says.

He's on his way to derail a supply train within fifteen minutes.

* * *

Axl arrives at the train platform right as the Neo Arcadia minions finish loading it with cargo, and he has to hustle to get on-board before it completely pulls away from the station; that the platform's security Mechaniloids descend upon him with a vengeance as he hurtles towards the transport certainly doesn't help, either, but he manages to break through and vault onto the train's caboose before it's completely out of range.

From there, it's just a matter of fighting his way through the train until he reaches the engine room. Except for the part where Ciel contacts him in the middle of the mission and asks him to save a captured Cyber Elf along the way, that is.

"Please," she says, "please save that Cyber Elf. It's very young still and I don't want to see its power abused by Neo Arcadia."

"Leave it to me," Axl says, and switches his focus to search and rescue instead of search and destroy. After all, the engine room isn't going anywhere; he needs to get to that Cyber Elf before one of the mooks on the train decides to grab it and evacuate.

He blasts his way through more Pantheons than he can count, forcing himself to ignore the faint visual similarities they have with X; the resemblance makes sense to him now that he knows about Copy X, but that doesn't mean he's happy about it.

(He's not sure what it means for him going forward, the low-grade unease he feels every time he shoots a Pantheon. Because if he's this troubled by Neo Arcadia's mass-produced foot soldiers because of their resemblance to X, how is he going to fight the actual leader of Neo Arcadia, who is by all accounts a perfect copy of his friend?

He has a nagging suspicion that it's going to feel like his fight with Red all over again, staring at a familiar face and knowing that he _can't_ hold back, that he _has_ to end it.

It's not a fight he's looking forward to, that's for sure. He knows that it's an inevitable confrontation, because there's no way he's going to let things continue on as they have been, but still.)

He finds the captured Cyber Elf in one of the train's cargo cars, trapped a glass cage that's wedged in between crates of weaponry. "It's okay," he tells it, trying to be as reassuring as possible so the little creature doesn't get unnecessarily spooked. "I'm here to help you. Everything's going to be okay."

The little Cyber Elf glows a little brighter and flings itself against the glass wall of it's cage with a fierce little cry before bouncing back, the little magician's hat on its head wobbling from the effort.

"I know, I know, hang in there. I'll have you free in just a second, okay?" Axl shoves his shoulder against one of the crates to shift it out of the way so he can wiggle the glass cage free; from there, it's an easy enough matter to use a carefully applied energy shot from his pistol to shatter the lock on the cage and let the Cyber Elf loose. "There we go," he says once it tumbles free from the cage. "You okay?"

It gives a little nod, mumbles something he can't quite catch, and promptly takes up residence on his shoulder.

"Well, alright then," he says, bemused but accepting. He taps his communicator. "Ciel, I've secured the Cyber Elf; it's shaken up but otherwise unharmed. I'm proceeding on to the engine room."

"Copy that, Axl. Please be careful."

Axl hums noncommittally and makes his way farther up the train. "I'll let you know once I've put the train out of commission," he says, and disconnects the call.

The Cyber Elf on his shoulder mumbles something else and Axl turns his head to look at it. "Sorry, what was that?" he asks.

"There's a Pantheon Core directing this train," the Elf repeats, peering at him with wide eyes. "Can you defeat it?"

"That depends," Axl replies, even as he absently wonders what gender this little Elf is (he's always been bad at guessing when it comes to the young Cyber Elves; they don't start to show signs of femininity or masculinity until they get older, and some of them don't ascribe to gender at all). "What's a Pantheon Core?"

The Elf stares at Axl like it's never seen anything like him before. "You don't know what a Pantheon Core is?" it (he?) asks.

"I'm a bit out of the loop when it comes to what I'm up against these days," Axl remarks wryly. "Is a Pantheon Core easier or harder to bring down than a Golem?"

The Elf's eyes go impossibly wider and it gives a little squeak of alarm. "You've fought a Golem?" it asks, sounding torn between terror and awe.

"Yeah, I took one out a few days ago," Axl replies flippantly. "Anyway, what exactly is a Pantheon Core? A bigger, badder version of a Pantheon?"

The Cyber Elf makes an unhappy sound. "Not quite," it murmurs. "Ordinary Pantheons are foot soldiers. A Pantheon Core…It functions as the…brain of the train, I suppose you could say. It manages the security of the transport and makes sure that everything is on schedule. Not every Neo Arcadia transport train has a Pantheon Core," the Elf adds after as an afterthought. "Only the ones carrying the most valuable cargo."

"Huh." Axl wonders if the important cargo on this particular transport is the oodles of weaponry or the Cyber Elf on his shoulder. Then he realizes that it probably doesn't matter; his mission to destroy the train is the same regardless of what the train itself is lugging across the landscape. "Well, I guess we'd better go take out that Core so that this train doesn't make it to Neo Arcadia." Something occurs to him then and he turns to look at the Cyber Elf more directly. "Do you want me to find somewhere safe for you to hide while I go on ahead to fight? I don't want to put you in danger right after saving you."

The Elf makes a face at him, an indignant little pout that shouldn't be as cute as it is. "I'm not going to hide," it says. "Besides, the safest place on this transport is probably with you. My name is Totten," it adds a moment later, apropos of absolutely nothing that Axl can think of.

Axl rolls with it, because what else is he going to do? "Nice to meet you, Totten," he replies. "I'm Axl." He checks the clip of his pistol. "Now, let's go deal with this train brain."

(As fights go, the battle against the Pantheon Core isn't the hardest he's ever had by a long stretch, but it's not the easiest, either. Ultimately, it rates somewhere between the Mega Scorpio that had pursued him the night he'd run away from Red Alert and Burn Rooster who'd gone Maverick back during the Jakob Project fiasco. When all is said and done, Axl manages to reduce the Core to a smoldering heap of scrap metal with a barrage of well-placed shots while only sustaining minor damage himself.

Totten hovers around him in the aftermath, fussing over the electrical burns that are scattered across his armor, but Axl assures the Cyber Elf that he's fine (it's not even a lie; a few hours of rest and his auto-repair systems will sort everything out) and the little creature subsides with a grumble while Axl refocuses his attention on contacting Ciel for an extraction.

He ignores the smug look that appears on Totten's chubby face when Ciel catches sight of his injuries and fusses over them just as much as the Elf had.

It should be annoying, the way they're worrying over such small injuries. But somehow it's not; it reminds him of Alia and the other Navigators, of how they'd fuss and scold and refuse to let him or X or Zero go out on missions if they were injured (not that they'd listen most of the time, but still).

It feels familiar in a bittersweet sort of way, and Axl ends the day feeling slightly less lonely than he had the day before. There's still a hole in his life, a gaping grief-stricken spot in his heart that his Hunter friends used to occupy, ragged and aching.

But when he looks at Ciel's worried face and listens to Totten's anxious mutters, that pain isn't quite so overbearing. It's still there, but he's not drowning in it, and that's…good, he thinks. Or at least, it's not bad.

He still complains about all the fussing, of course. After all, they're just _minor_ electrical burns!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so! Full disclosure: I did not originally go into this chapter expecting to write about Axl stopping a supply train and adopting a Cyber Elf, but, uh. Here we are, lol. Also, I personally feel like the quality of the latter third of this chapter is kind of 'eh' compared to some of the more well-written parts of the story, but you know what? I spent about a week writing and editing and re-writing this chapter so I'm very sorry if the quality isn't great but honestly I just...couldn't stare at it anymore. XD 
> 
> Anyway, I look forward to hearing what you guys think of this latest chapter! Chapter 6, meanwhile, will probably be posted within the next few days; I have it completed already, I just need to do a few more editing passes before I unleash it into the world. ;D


	6. Chapter 6: Occupy Factory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, everyone! Thank you as always for the great comments, you're all so nice. :D Anyway, this is another mission-based chapter, with a side helping of mild angst. Enjoy!

**Chapter 6: Occupy Factory**

* * *

"I have a new mission for you," Ciel tells Axl a few days later, once he's had time to get Totten settled in and adjusted to life at the Resistance base (he would have gone back out into the fray sooner, but the little Cyber Elf had grown very attached to Axl after being rescued, and had been reluctant to let him out of sight so soon after being freed from Neo Arcadia). "If you're willing to accept, of course," she adds, glancing at the various little projects and haphazard stacks of files he has strewn across the flat surfaces in his room. "I understand if you're too busy right now."

Axl grins and sets aside the Buster, which he'd been tinkering with in an attempt to increase its damage output. "I'm never too busy for a mission," he says cheerfully, leaning back in his chair. "Tell me more."

Ciel favors him with a grateful smile before her expression turns serious again. "Our energy supply is in danger of running out," she tells him now. "Cerveau and I have been attempting to find a way to produce more energy here, but unfortunately the Resistance base simply doesn't have the resources we need to produce energy on the massive scale that is needed to sustain and grow our operations."

Axl frowns at her. "I assume you have a plan?"

The scientist nods, her ponytail bobbing with the motion. "There's a factory not far from here; it's been shut down for years now, but Neo Arcadia still guards it fiercely. My hope was that if the Resistance could gain control of that factory, we could get it operational again and start producing more of our own energy."

"Okay," Axl says agreeably. "I'm guessing that my job is to deal with the Neo Arcadia goons who are guarding it? Clear them out, make sure they don't come back?"

Ciel nods again. "Once it's safe, a team of Resistance scientists will move in and get to work on adapting the factory to our needs. This could really help us in the fight against Copy X," she adds, looking hopeful. "So far we haven't been able to mount a serious effort against Neo Arcadia because we've lacked the resources, but with a larger and more consistent source of energy…well, it would help a lot."

Axl's heart twists at the mention of Copy X, but he pastes a smile on his face to hide his discomfort. "Leave it to me," he says. "Oh, but will you keep an eye on Totten for me while I'm gone?" he adds as an afterthought. "I don't wanna drag the little guy out on a dangerous mission, but I don't want to leave him all alone, either." Axl's all too familiar with the downsides of too much alone time, and he doesn't want Totten to feel isolated or neglected, not after so much time spent in captivity already.

Ciel gives a soft smile, eyes warm. "It's very sweet, the way you're looking after Totten," she says. "Some Reploids only view Cyber Elves as tools. But not you. You treat them like real people."

Axl shrugs, vaguely uncomfortable with the praise. "Because they are? I mean, I'm hardly an expert like you, but I _was_ around when Cyber Elves were first becoming a big deal." He very deliberately steers his thoughts away from the events of Elf Wars, because that was a dark time and he very much doesn't want to think of it right now. "They might exist in a different way from humans and Reploids, but there's no denying the fact that they have personalities and feelings just like we do. In my book, that makes them just as real as anyone else."

Ciel all but beams at him. "I agree completely," she says happily. "But it's nice to hear someone say the same thing that I believe." She glances over at Totten, who's dozing on the corner of Axl's desk, his little magician's hat tipped forward to cover his small face. "I'll keep an eye on him for you while you're out," she promises. "Just make sure to return safe from your mission."

Axl gives a wry smile. "Well, I'll definitely _try_ ," he replies, because there are no guarantees when it comes to a mission that's taking him into enemy territory; given his skills, however, he _does_ have better odds for success than any other Resistance member so he's not overly worried. "I'll be back before you know it," he adds, injecting some extra cheer into his voice to reassure Ciel, then leaves to go speak to Rouge and Jean in the command center.

The two Resistance operators (who he's rapidly coming to realize serve much the same function as the Navigators of his time) relay to him what little information they have about the security of the factory and then send him on his way.

He arrives at the factory and is immediately greeted by a hail of blaster fire from the Pantheons guarding the entrance. He ducks behind stack of broken equipment and gives a low whistle. "A lot of manpower here for an abandoned factory," he comments to himself before vaulting over the equipment and opening fire on the Pantheons.

After a few more minutes, he succeeds in eliminating the external security patrols and slips into the factory. "Let's see…" He goes over to the an old map of the building that's hanging on the wall in the entryway. "Five floors total plus a basement, huh…" He peers at a part of the map that's so faded that it's almost entirely illegible; he's not sure, it seems like it _someone_ had scribbled on the schematic in permanent marker prior to the factory being evacuated, something about a danger that's been contained on the top floor.

"I wonder if whatever's trapped up there is the reason the factory got shut down," he muses, because he can't fathom any other situation that would cause Neo Arcadia to shut down a factory of this size; granted, from what Ciel and other Resistance members have told him it's likely that Neo Arcadia has plenty of other factories of comparable size to make up for the lost output. But still. No one writes off such an important resource without a damn good reason.

He intends to find out what that reason is. After all, he can't give Ciel the all-clear for the Resistance to move in if there's something dangerous lurking around that could put innocent lives at risk; because he might be cavalier with his _own_ safety, but he's not going to recklessly endanger anyone else if he can help it.

So he treks through the factory, disabling Neo Arcadia's security protocols where he finds them and eliminating each and every Pantheon he comes across. Finally, he encounters what seems to be a records room of some sort; it's full of computers and filing cabinets, albeit all of them covered in a thick layer of dust.

"Let's see if anyone bothered to leave a security log for the last day of operation," he mutters, powering up the main terminal and scrolling through the jumbled entries. After some searching through the more secured portions of the system (he's not precisely _proficient_ at hacking databases, but being first a member of Red Alert and then later a Maverick Hunter has left him with a pretty diverse skill-set that comes in handy for sticky situations where he needs to access sensitive information and doesn't have the time or inclination to wait for authorization), he finally manages to locate what seems to be a hasty entry into the security records on the factory's last day of activity.

It's hard to understand, because whoever had written it switches topics quickly and with no sensible pattern that Axl can discern, vacillating between an assessment of the security Mechaniloids to an estimation of how much energy output would be lost for Neo Arcadia as a result of the impending shutdown before finally offering a vague description of what's forcing the factory to close in the first place.

All in all, it's not very helpful; Axl gets some very basic information about what he might be up against (according to the security chief's report, it's supposedly some sort of a giant Mechaniloid that was originally designed to rescue people before it suffered some sort of a malfunction that made it try to kill people instead) but nothing phenomenally useful. After a little more poking around, he moves on and heads for the top floor.

He's greeted by a truly massive Mechaniloid that eyes him like he's dinner; with a long serpentine body, most of it is actually coiled out of sight, with just its multi-pronged head and portions of its body showing through the rubble of the collapsed top floor.

"So you're the big bad monster that the security chief was so scared of," he says to it, sidling slowly into the room with his pistol at the ready. "Guard Orotic, he called you," Axl goes on, mentally flagging every weak spot he sees in the thing's armor; there aren't many. "The 'Immortal Snake Guardian'. With a name like that, I'm guessing you must be pretty formidable, huh? You have to be, to force them to shut this place down instead of just taking you out."

The Mechaniloid makes a hissing, snarling sound, its body flexing and writhing as it watches him, the optics of all eight of its heads tracking his every movement with disturbing accuracy.

"This is going to suck," Axl decides, and opens fire anyway.

The hydra-like monster recoils at his first volley of shots, but quickly regroups, lashing out at him with an attack that send him crashing through the far wall of the room. Which wouldn't be overly concerning in and of itself, if not for the fact that there isn't actually another room on the other side of the wall; he ends up flying out into the open air, and it's only through the use of his hover jets that he avoids plummeting straight down to the ground level.

"That's a dirty trick," he gripes, clambering back into the building through the hole in the wall as his hover rockets hit their limit. "But fine; two can play at that game." He mentally sorts through his internal catalogue of DNA data until he finds what he's looking for, then shifts his shape into that of Wind Crowrang. It's not something he's done very often, taking on the shape of a former ally from his Red Alert days; it always stirs up uncomfortable memories and even more uncomfortable emotions, and so he avoids mimicking the appearances and abilities of his fallen friends unless he absolutely has to.

But Crowrang's form can give him a much-needed advantage in this fight, offering him more agility and maneuverability, with the added bonus of being a form he can shift into without too much trouble; he and Crowrang had been friends once, which gives Axl enough familiarity with how the corvid-themed Reploid had moved and fought to be able to duplicate it effectively.

(It still stirs up unhappy memories, though, and he can't help but hear echoes of his former friend's voice as he shifts, taking on wings so he can better dodge the Guard Orotic's attacks and position himself where he can do the most damage with his shots.

 _You're never coming back, are you?_ Crowrang had asked, something like sorrow creeping into his sharp gaze.

 _You know my answer to that_ , Axl had said, regretful but unwavering.)

He uses Crowrang's signature boomerang attacks to put some distance between himself and the Mechaniloid while still dishing out the hurt, and then utilizes a well-placed missile to bring down a section of the roof on top of it, immobilizing the giant beast to keep it from lunging after him the way it seems to like to.

Unfortunately, his energy reserves for transformations aren't as extensive as they'd been before he'd spent a century in stasis; he ends up having to shift back into his normal form before he has a chance to finish off the Guard Orotic with another barrage of missiles.

Lady Luck seems to be on his side, however; given how much damage he's already dished out, the Orotic seems a few hits away from a critical system failure. A few more well-placed shots will bring it down completely, so that's what he delivers with his pistol.

The giant Mechaniloid gives one last gurgling hiss before it finally collapses, and then its internal power core detonates, triggering an explosion that sends metallic shrapnel ricocheting through the air as Axl scrambles to take cover.

There's a sharp pain in his left shoulder as a chunk of debris impacts with his armor and cracks it, but he ignores it and keeps going, rolling to the side and ducking behind a chunk of the fallen ceiling as he waits for the explosion to subside.

After what feels like a small eternity but is probably only a handful of minutes, the flames finally start to die down, the remains of the Orotic going from a raging inferno to a smoldering pile of scrap, and Axl deems it safe to come out.

His shoulder hurts every time he moves, a deep stabbing pain that sends little lances of agony shooting through his upper body with every single step he takes, and he mentally upgrades his damage estimate from _mild_ to _probably severe_.

There's no time to stop and assess exactly how bad, though; he still needs to secure the basement of the factory and then contact Ciel so she can send in a Resistance clean-up crew to get the building up to snuff for the energy manufacturing that she wants done. So he drags himself back downstairs, gritting his teeth and pushing through the pain.

 _This is nothing_ , Axl he tells himself sternly. _You've had way worse injuries than this and walked it off._ Like the time Sigma had punted him through a wall in the Crimson Palace, or the time when Lumine's last attack on the Orbital Elevator had shattered part of his helmet and pitched him into a month-long coma. Or that one battle during the Elf Wars that had resulted in him buried in an avalanche for three days straight before his friends had found him and dug him out.

He's had worse than this and come out of it fine; objectively speaking, there's nothing to worry about, and he _knows_ that.

But part of him can't help but feel the pain a little more keenly than before simply because he's got no one watching his back here and it's leaving him feeling more vulnerable than he's accustomed to.

As a Maverick Hunter, he'd always known that someone was there to watch his back; even right after he'd defected from Red Alert, he'd had that security. Even in the very beginning, back when he and Zero had barely known each other and trusted each other even less, he'd still been able to count on the other Reploid as a battle partner.

He doesn't have that now; he's a lone operative in almost every sense, and normally that's not something that would trouble him; he's worked alone before, after all, and while it's not ideal it's usually doable. But now, when he's seriously injured and with no one capable of rescuing him if he gets in over his head?

It's a sobering realization, and it makes him _really_ miss his friends.

 _I wish you guys were here_ , he thinks, remembering X's tired but warm smiles and Zero's dry sarcasm.

(He's so focused on his mission, on getting down to the basement and clearing it of any potential dangers, that he doesn't notice the flickering lights that crackle to life behind him, glowing red and blue as he vanishes into the darkness.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, look, more mysterious flashing lights! That's so weird, and absolutely means nothing at all, really. ;D (No, but seriously, I'm not just throwing in glowing lights for no reason, I promise.) 
> 
> Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Also, yes! The Guard Orotic is a real boss enemy from the original Megaman Zero game and yes, that's really its name! And if anyone's curious as to the etymology: the origin of the Orotic's name and design comes from the Japanese legend of Yamata no Orochi, which is an eight-headed snake (or dragon, depending on your interpretation).


	7. Chapter 7: Find Shuttle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, my friends! I managed to get a three day weekend from work (a minor miracle, since I work grocery retail) and decided the best way to celebrate would be to post a new chapter. :D
> 
> Thanks as always to everyone who's reading this fic! I'm having a ton of fun working on this story, so your kudos and comments really do mean the world to me; it's always nice when a self-indulgent fic gets positive feedback, haha. ;D
> 
> Anyway, we have here another chapter based on the events of the original Megaman Zero game, specifically one of the desert missions. Also, I did not start this fic intending to have Axl adopt a Cyber Elf, much less for that to actually be something I'm having so much fun with, but here we are, lol. At the very least, it gives us something other than non-stop angst, right? XD That being said, while this chapter does have a few lighter moments, it's on the whole a serious chapter given the overall subject matter. Also, there's, uh…zombies. Kind of. It'll make sense in context, I promise!

**Chapter 7: Find Shuttle**

* * *

Axl is jerked from a sound sleep (the first real rest he's had since waking up in the future; he attributes the depth of his sleep to the sheer exhaustion that's been dragging him down since the factory mission five days ago, because nothing else would have allowed him to sleep so deeply without nightmares) by the piercing klaxon of an alarm.

A lifetime of battle instincts has him groggily vaulting out of his recharging bed and stumbling out of his room before he can even process anything beyond _alarm_ and _danger_. He makes his way to the command center, Totten trailing behind him with worried murmurs as he goes.

Stepping into the command center means stepping into a hubbub of activity, with tons of people frantically dashing to and fro while chattering anxiously at each other, and Axl zeroes in on the most familiar face. "Ciel, what's going on?" he asks, raising his voice to be heard over the persistent wailing of the emergency siren. "What's the alarm for?"

"Oh, Axl!" She turns to him with a panicked look on her face. "I'm so glad you're here; we have a huge problem!"

"I kind of assumed as much from the alarm," he replies dryly, amused despite the worry rising in his chest. "What's the problem?"

"It's-" She whirls around suddenly and hollers at someone to shut off the alarm; only once it's been silenced does she continue at a more normal volume instead of continuing to shout. "There was a transport ship traveling over the desert. It belonged to Neo Arcadia, but was transporting captured Resistance members. We're not sure what exactly happened," she goes on, a look of uncertainty flitting across her face. "But the shuttle seemed to experience some sort of malfunction; it crashed in the middle of the desert. We suspect that some of the prisoners broke free and attempted to hijack the plane and escape before crash landing," she adds.

Axl frowns. "Have you sent out a reconnaissance team yet to assess the crash site?"

Ciel shakes her head. "No," she says dejectedly. "We tried sending in a few scouts to do a preliminary assessment, but they encountered a horde of hostile enemies that they weren't equipped to handle and had to turn back. Can you…can you help them? Go to the crash site and rescue anyone who survived the impact?"

"I'll leave right away," he assures her, before turning to Totten. "You stay here with Ciel, okay? You'll be safe here."

Totten gives Axl a decidedly mulish look. "I'm going with you," the little Cyber Elf says.

Axl frowns. "What? No, Totten, you can't come with me, it's too dangerous. You could get hurt."

"So could you," Totten retorts. "The desert is dangerous even without enemy soldiers," he adds stubbornly. "I can help you navigate it more easily."

"Totten might have a point," Ciel offers unexpectedly. "There are unusual environmental dangers in the desert, such as spike pits and sinkholes. His abilities might prove useful in keeping you out of harm's way until you reach the crash site."

The thought of dragging a young Cyber Elf into danger makes Axl all kinds of uncomfortable, and he rocks back on his heels with an unhappy sigh. "I'm not sure that's a good idea," he says hesitantly.

"It doesn't matter if it's a good idea or not," Totten retorts, his small face scrunched up in determination. "It's the right thing to do."

Axl shakes his head. "Totten-"

"You saved me from Neo Arcadia," Totten says doggedly. "This is the least I can do to repay you."

"Totten," Axl says, "you don't _need_ to repay me; that's not why I saved you. I rescued you that day because it was the right thing to do."

"Yes, I know," Totten replies. "And that's why I'm going to help you."

Axl is beginning to understand why Signas had always looked like he was fighting off a migraine whenever he had to deal with Axl at his most recalcitrant. "Okay, _fine_ ," he says at last, relenting. "But you'd better stay close to me the entire time, got it? No wandering off where I can't keep an eye on you."

Totten nods. "I understand," he promises.

Axl sighs again as Ciel wanders over to Rouge and Jean to finalize the preparations for his departure. "This is such a bad idea," he mutters, and is thoroughly ignored by everyone in the room.

He and his Cyber Elf sidekick are en route to the crash site within twenty minutes.

* * *

Axl worries about having Totten with him, right up until he nearly meets his end falling into a spike pit only to be saved when Totten zooms in and does some sort of Cyber Elf magic that covers the spikes in a thick, viscous goo that renders them virtually harmless.

Axl hauls himself out the pit, mentally chastising himself for tripping into a spike pit like a rookie even as he reaches out to gently pat Totten on the head. "Thanks for the save, little buddy,"

Totten swells up with pride, giving a satisfied little smile. "I _told_ you I could help," he says, pleased.

Axl huffs out a little laugh. "You did," he agrees. "I'm sorry I doubted you."

"That's okay," Totten says cheerfully. "You were just trying to keep me out of harm's way. I understand. But I can help, too," he adds on more seriously as he settles himself back onto Axl's shoulder, his magician's hat slightly askew from all the excitement. "I _want_ to help."

Axl straightens the Elf's little hat so it doesn't block the little guy's vision. "I know you do, Totten, and I appreciate it. Really. So you're officially on, uh, spike pit duty, okay?"

Totten gives a happy little chime. "Okay! I'll keep you safe, Axl, I promise!"

There's a warmth in his chest that Axl can't quite name, but he thinks it's some variety of fondness for the little being on his shoulder. "I know you will, little buddy."

They continue trekking through the dessert, with Axl using his hover jets to get himself across some of the deeper canyons they encounter while Totten uses his special ability to deal with any spike pits they come across.

Eventually, after what seems like an eternity but is probably only a few hours (albeit a few hours in a scorching desert, which in Axl's opinion _is_ an eternity by default) they reach the wreckage of the crashed shuttle.

"Axl, there's someone over there!" Totten cries out, zooming off towards a prone form that's trapped under a chunk of fuselage.

"Totten, don't wander off," Axl shouts after him, but he's ignored as the Elf hovers closer to the body. Axl grumbles a curse under his breath and scrambles across the uneven terrain until he reaches Totten. "Totten-"

"I think he might still be alive," the Cyber Elf says anxiously, face creased in concern as he peers at the Resistance soldier crumpled on the ground.

Axl curses again and hurries to shift the debris off of the injured Reploid. "Hey, can you hear me?" he asks, kneeling down to check the other Reploid's injuries.

He doesn't get a response.

"How is he?" Totten asks worriedly.

"Hurt," Axl replies, grim. "Badly. The entire right side of his body is seriously damaged," he goes on. "He's going to need extensive repair work to fix it all. Plus it looks like something clipped him on the head pretty hard." Shrapnel from the plane's wreckage, if Axl had to guess. "We need to get this guy back to the base as soon as possible." Head wounds are nothing to play around with; Axl knows that all too well himself, so he knows better than to let this Reploid sit around without medical attention. After all, it's probably only thanks to X and Zero getting him back to Maverick Hunter HQ so quickly that he's even still around after that last strike from Lumine all those years ago; without medical intervention he would have come out of things _much_ worse, assuming he survived at all.

"But what about the rest of the prisoners who were on the transport?" Totten asks, glancing over at the remainder of the wreckage. "There could be more Reploids nearby, just as injured. We can't leave without trying to help them."

Axl drags a hand through his hair, but there's no denying the truth in Totten's statement. "Alright," he says after a moment of thought. "Can you stay here with this guy while I search for more survivors?" He only has a limited number of teleportation beacons because of how scarce the resources used to make them are for the Resistance (Axl had unfortunately been forced to sit through a forty minute diatribe that Cerveau had given on the subject just the day before, so he's far more familiar (perhaps far _too_ familiar) with the situation than he had been previously), so he needs to gather together as many survivors as possible first so as to make what few beacons he has work to get all of them home.

Totten nods, expression solemn. "I will stay with him," he says seriously. "Be careful," he adds. "If some of the prisoners survived, it's possible that some of the enemy soldiers guarding them survived, too. And I don't think they'll be very happy to see you."

Axl snorts. "Nah, they probably won't be," he agrees wryly. "Luckily, I have this." He pats his pistol affectionately. "Now, stay _right here_ , okay? I'll be back soon."

Totten nods in confirmation, and Axl traipses away, towards the twisted wreckage of the plane. He drags two more unconscious prisoners from the debris before delving deeper into the wreck.

He stumbles across several Pantheons, their bodies crumpled and crushed, and has to take a moment to just _breathe_ because the passing resemblance they bear to X is still something he can't seem to adjust to, and seeing them just sprawled out like broken dolls makes something twist in his chest, jagged and sharp.

It feels an awful lot like grief, but he stuffs it back down because there's no _time_ to grieve, not here and now.

He has a job to do, after all, and he can't let himself lose focus, not when innocent lives are resting on his shoulders.

He continues his trek through the wreckage, hesitates when he spots another body buried beneath a mess of bent metal and charred sand (this time with long gangly limbs and the head of a jackal), and then keeps moving once he confirms that there's nothing he can do; this Reploid had clearly sustained too much damage from the crash, his eyes lifeless and his body damaged beyond repair.

He doesn't come across any other survivors trapped in the wreckage and is about to call it quits and return to base with the few survivors he did manage to get out (all of them are currently outside under Totten's watchful gaze) when suddenly there's the sound of shifting metal from behind him, back the way he'd come.

Axl swivels around just in time to see the jackal-headed Reploid extracting himself from the debris he'd been buried under. "That's…not possible," Axl manages, staring on in disbelief as the Reploid rises to his full height, complete with a distinct aura of menace that immediately puts Axl on edge. "You were _dead_ ," he says, and sure, he's seen some pretty incredible auto-repair systems over the years (Zero's in particular had always been almost ludicrously effective at healing critical damage, and Axl's own repair systems aren't anything to sneeze at, either) but this is something else entirely. "What are you," he demands, leveling his pistol at the mysteriously resurrected Reploid.

The Reploid regards Axl with a disdainful gaze, something dark sparking in his eyes. "I," he replies, his voice as deep and dark as a bottomless abyss, "am Anubis Necromancess, the Undying King of Destruction and ruler of this desert. As a loyal member of Neo Arcadia's Scorched Earth Squadron," he goes on, "it is my duty to oversee the transportation of the prisoners on this vessel."

"I think you're out of luck," Axl says. "Y'know, seeing as how this vessel is literally in pieces around us. Besides," he adds with a sharp grin, thumbing off his pistol's safety, "those prisoners are under my protection now. So you won't be taking them anywhere, unless of course you're eager to die again."

Necromancess gives a low chuckle that makes Axl want to jump out of his skin. "Oh, you foolish child. Death is of no consequence to me; even if by some miracle you _did_ manage to defeat me I would simply rise again given enough time."

Axl can't begin to put into words how disturbing he finds that little nugget of information, but does his best to keep his expression blank so as to not give away how uneasy he is with the current situation. "Contrary to appearances," he says instead, " _I'm_ not the inexperienced youngster in this equation." Granted, he has no idea how old this Anubis guy is (especially if a special ability like self-resurrection is in play), but he doesn't recall a Reploid like this existing back in his day which means that Axl is older by default. "And I can't allow you to take those prisoners back to Neo Arcadia. They need medical attention, and they're coming with me."

"My apologies, then, _old-timer_ ," Anubis Necromancess says with a sneer. "But I have orders from Fefnir of the Four Guardians to bring those insurgents back with me. If you intend to rescue them, then you shall have to defeat me first!"

"Works for me," Axl says, and opens fire. Unlike with Aztec Falcon, there's no way he can leave this Reploid alive and still succeed in his mission to rescue those Resistance members. Throw in the fact that Necromancess will apparently self-repair to the point of resurrection even if Axl _does_ manage to defeat him and he's got no choice but throw everything he's got into the fight. He's got to dish out enough to damage to keep Anubis Necromancess down for the count long enough to get those injured Resistance members to safety.

What follows next is the most harrowing fight that Axl's experienced since the Elf Wars. Because Anubis Necromancess apparently has more tricks up his sleeve besides his ability to come back from the dead, which means that Axl has to move fast and think on his feet to avoid being swallowed up by the walls of sand that Necromancess somehow summons up.

It's a struggle, but Axl manages to hold his own and get in a few good shots that strike his enemy in critical places and slow him down.

Then the jackal-headed Reploid unleashes a wave of energy that reanimates the fallen Pantheons that Axl had passed earlier. They shudder and twitch and begin extricating themselves from the wreckage, dragging broken limbs along as they staggers towards Axl with vacant yet hostile expressions.

Axl says a foul curse that doesn't bear repeating because _what is happening_. Almost any Reploid can be repaired and brought back to life in a technical sense if 1) the resources are available and 2) the circumstances are favorable.

But _this_?

This is something entirely different, and while Axl knows that there must be a logical explanation (there almost always is) that doesn't really do much to quell the visceral terror that comes from seeing dead enemies _get back up_.

He fires off a rapid volley of shots that go tearing into the reanimated Pantheons, punching holes in their already damaged bodies and reducing them to scrap metal once more. He feels relieved for about forty-five seconds, and then Anubis Necromancess makes an imperious gesture with his staff and they all get right back up again and start shambling towards Axl with intent to kill to once more.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Axl snaps, flinging himself sideways as another of Necromancess's crushing walls of sand tries to suffocate him just as a zombie Pantheon tries to take off his head with an energy blast.

He decides to focus all of his attention on taking down Anubis Necromancess; hopefully with the self-titled Undying King of Destruction removed from the equation, the Pantheons will go back to being properly dead and Axl will be able to finally get the Resistance prisoners safely back to base so they can receive the medical attention that they need.

In the end, Axl loses track of how many shots it takes to bring down Anubis Necromancess, but his hope is given fruition when the jackal-headed Reploid goes down and all the Pantheons he'd resurrected crumple like puppets with their strings cut shortly thereafter.

Exhausted and aching all over, Axl drags himself back out of the wreckage to where Totten is waiting with the injured Resistance members and wastes no time in setting up the teleportation beacons that will take all of them home.

He's never been so relieved to leave a desert in his entire life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so just in case anyone's wondering: Anubis Necromancess is not actually a necromancer, lol. According to some research I did on the character, he's got these super special nanites at his disposal that he uses to both manipulate sand and reanimate fallen Reploids; it's also these nanites that are responsible for his own resurrections (they basically repair any damage he's sustained and then give him a jolt to bring him back to life). So Axl is right, there is a logical explanation! :D


	8. Chapter 8: Mechaniloid Attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, everybody! Thanks as always for the fabulous feedback, you guys are the best! Anyway, about this chapter: the first chunk is introspective angst and a flashback, and then the rest of the chapter is pulled from game events. Enjoy!

**Chapter 8: Mechaniloid Attack**

* * *

It takes Axl the better part of two weeks to recover from his desert mission, which seems to worry Ciel and the other Resistance members who have apparently become accustomed to him pushing on in spite of injuries and exhaustion. He assures them that he's fine, just feeling worn a little thin after his fight against Anubis Necromancess, and after some more fretting they subside and leave him to his own devices for a few days while he recuperates. It helps, he thinks, that most personnel (Ciel included) are preoccupied with getting the new energy production facility up and running, and subsequently have less time to waste worrying over Axl.

Of course, the downside to such a generous stretch of downtime is that Axl has plenty of time to _think_. And while that's not such a bad thing in small doses or at the appropriate times, being left with only himself for company is not particularly ideal given everything he's deliberately _avoided_ thinking about until now.

Like Copy X, or how the original X had sacrificed himself to seal away the Dark Elf, or how Zero had mysteriously vanished a few years prior to that, or how Axl is going to have to somehow defeat Copy X by himself.

Plus there's his original mission, finding out what happened to Weil and making sure he's no longer a threat, plus whatever the hell else crops up between then and now.

All things being equal, it's…a lot. He doesn't even know where to begin sorting through the tangled up mess in his head. And that's not even counting the various smaller traumas he's had heaped upon him since Ciel woke him up.

It's enough to make him regret absolutely everything that had led him to this point, if only for a moment.

He still remembers one conversation in particular, a conversation in the immediate aftermath of the Elf Wars. Just a few days after bringing down Omega, he and his friends had gathered together to discuss the situation and decide how to move forward in a world that had been devastated during the brutal battles that had wrecked the environment and wiped out almost all sentient life, Reploid and human alike.

That conversation had changed _everything_.

* * *

" _There's no way Weil's gone for good," Zero says, expression grim as they review the footage of Omega's containment rocket being shot into space. "We may have put a stop to his plans for now, but he's not the sort of man who'll just stop trying. Whether it's a year from now or a hundred years from now, he'll be back and he'll try again."_

" _What are you suggesting we do, then?" X asks. "Wait for him to show himself again, not knowing how long it could take? With the enhancements he's given himself, he's not going to age like an ordinary human anymore; we could be waiting for centuries, Zero, and there's no guarantee that we wouldn't get killed in an unrelated matter between now and then."_

" _Which would leave the world defenseless against him," Axl points out, "since everyone else thinks it's all over." As things stand, none of the other survivors want to even discuss the matter, much less plan for a future where everything could devolve into chaos again._

" _So we take steps to ensure that at least one of us would last that long," Zero says._

_X looks like he has a vague idea that he knows where this is going and he isn't entirely sure how he feels about it. "And by 'steps' you mean…"_

" _Stasis," Zero confirms with a nod. "Go into hibernation, with instructions for when and how to be woken up."_

" _Okay, but hold up for a second," Axl interjects, scowling in confusion as he reclines in his seat and begins cleaning his pistol in what is by now a familiar tic that comes out whenever he's agitated and needs something to do with his hands. "Zero, you said yourself that going into stasis could have a negative effect on your cognitive core."_

" _I never said it would be_ _ **me**_ _going into stasis," Zero replies, his tone one of dry amusement. "After all, we can't_ _ **all**_ _spend the next century asleep; someone needs to stay present and accounted for just in case more fighting breaks out."_

" _Who, then?" X asks, almost dreading the answer because although he agrees with the logic in Zero's argument he doesn't want go into that stasis pod himself, doesn't want to go to sleep when there's a possibility that when he wakes up everything and everyone he loves is long gone. He'd do it if he had to, for the greater good, but he doesn't want to. "Who do you think it should be?"_

_Zero seems to mull it over for longer than X is entirely comfortable with. "I nominate Axl," he says at last._

_Axl promptly fumbles his grip on his pistol for the first time X has ever seen in all their years of friendship, sending it clattering to the floor with a muttered curse. "_ _**What?** _ _"_

* * *

Axl reclines in his seat, staring at the ceiling as memories whirl through his mind at hurricane speed. He doesn't regret the decision to go into stasis, not in and of itself, but there are certainly plenty of regrets tangled up with the _results_ of that decision.

He regrets that X and Zero are gone, to the point that the grief feels like a jagged hole deep in his chest, a wound that will never scab over. He regrets not being there for them, because maybe if he'd been there they could have found another way to stop the Dark Elf that final time.

Maybe if he'd been there, the three of them could have pulled off another impossible victory.

He regrets that the Resistance's only hope for victory against Neo Arcadia is _him_ , because as good as he is he can't help but feel that he's not _enough_. He's a Hunter, yes, but he's not X or Zero. He's got a lifetime of experience when it comes to taking down Mavericks and fighting in wars, but this struggle against Neo Arcadia is something else entirely.

He made Ciel a promise, though, and that's not something he's going to go back on. He'd agreed to help her, and while it's certainly proving to be both a physically and emotionally grueling ordeal he doesn't regret the promise itself.

How can he, when it's exactly what X or Zero would have done in his place.

_Our job isn't just taking down Mavericks_ , X had told him once, not long after they'd brought down Red Alert and Axl was slowly adjusting to life as a proper Maverick Hunter. _It's helping people_.

And at the end of the day, helping people is all Axl has ever really wanted to do. So how can he regret his decision, when it's put him in a position to help Ciel and the Resistance when otherwise they'd be doomed to crumble under Neo Arcadia's unstoppable might?

His current situation is far from ideal, but fate has aligned in such a way that he's where (and _when_ ) he's most needed, and that's not something he can ignore.

Another thing he can't ignore is the ear-piercing alarm that goes off five minutes later, jolting him out of his introspective funk with all the subtly of a freight train to the face.

He topples out of his chair right as Totten pops out from under the desk, woken from his mid-afternoon nap by the alarm. "Totten, you stay here," Axl orders, heading for the door once his Cyber Elf gives an affirmative nod, going over to Axl's charging bed and burrowing under the covers in an attempt to hide from the alarm.

Axl's tempted to do the same, because the Resistance's alarms are _really_ obnoxious, but he heads for the command center instead.

(He very deliberately does not think about the last time the warning klaxon had gone off and what that had led to. He's already spent long enough creeped out by the disturbing abilities of Anubis Necromancess; there's no point in revisiting that particular nightmare again anytime soon if he can help it.)

He doesn't make it to the command center before a Resistance guard finds him, though, grabbing him by the arm with a desperate expression on his face.

"Please," the guard says frantically, "you're Axl, right? Please, you have to help!"

"What is it?" Axl demands. "What's wrong?"

"There's a giant Mechaniloid approaching our base," the guard replies, looking terrified out of his wits. "The scouts have confirmed that it's been sent by Neo Arcadia. If we don't stop it, it'll destroy our base in no time!"

Axl curses and opens a communication line straight to Ciel's work station in the command center; there's no time for him to go all the way down there for information when the situation is clearly so time-sensitive. "Ciel, what's the situation with the Mechaniloid? What can I do?"

There's the sound of several voices talking at once over the connection before Ciel answers. "Most of our fighters are being deployed to defend the front of the base, since the main entrance seems to be the enemy's primary target. But if you can get around from behind it, you might be able to disable it. Or at the very least delay its attack long enough for us to get our shield generator operational."

Axl hesitates, because Ciel's been trying to get the base's shield generator operational for as long as he's been here and it seems doubtful that she and Cerveau will be able to magically get it functional right this very moment, but when it comes right down to there aren't really a lot of options for how to proceed. "Alright," he says at last, "I'll see what I can do." He turns back to the guard who'd grabbed him. "What's the best way to get out there?"

"Uh, er-" The guard glances around before tugging Axl towards a maintenance hatch that leads to surface. "This should take us out to a guard house not far from the main entrance," he tells Axl as they hustle through the winding service tunnel. "From there you should be able to use the natural cover of the terrain to sneak around behind the Mechaniloid."

"Perfect," Axl says, anticipation for the upcoming fight rising within him like a hawk that's caught a thermal.

It's a relatively short journey through the service tunnel to the guard house on the surface, and Axl gives the poor Resistance member who'd escorted him strict orders to stay put and shelter in place where it's safe.

"Axl, I have more information on the Mechaniloid," Ciel tells him through the communication line as he approaches the mountain base's primary entrance. "It's called the Hittite Hottaid. According to what the scouts have reported so far, it used to be some sort of a mining machine before Neo Arcadia retrofitted it to carry an explosive of some sort." There a brief pause while she talks to someone else before turning her attention back to Axl. "Cerveau says that it's likely going to try to burrow under our main blast door in an attempt to bypass our security measures."

"Well, I guess I'd better put it out of commission before that happens, huh?" Axl picks up his pace, then slows down when he spots a cloud of dust and dirt a short distance away, accompanied by the faint sound of drill motors. "Alright, I think I see it; it looks like it's already started digging."

"Axl, you have to do something! If Cerveau and I get the shield generator operational then we can repel the Mechaniloid's attack in its entirety and drive it away. But you need to stall it until then!"

_Easier said than done_ , he thinks, because a massive drill-bot redesigned for death isn't exactly going to be simple to deal with. Then again, what has been easy lately? "Leave it to me," Axl tells Ciel. "I'll buy you as much time as I can."

The fight ends up being easier than his fight against Anubis Necromancess but harder than his fight against Guard Orotic; the Hittite Hottaid has more drills at its disposal than any other mining Mechaniloid Axl has ever seen before, and each drill poses enough of a danger on its own to force Axl to be cautious in his approach. And it turns out to be a delicate balance. Because if he's too far away, he can't do enough damage. But if he gets too close, those drills will shred him to pieces and doom the Resistance in the process.

Eventually he manages to cripple the Hottaid through the liberal use of his hover jets and a generous application of energy shots to the Mechaniloid's more vulnerable joints. All in all, it's an effort that takes him about forty-seven minutes of constant shooting, jumping, dodging, and hovering to keep the Hottaid distracted and too damaged to pursue its assault against the Resistance base.

Then, finally, he hears Ciel's voice over the communication line. "Axl, fall back to the guardhouse!" she says, a note of urgency in her tone. "We're ready to activate the energy shield, but you need to get clear of the area or you'll be caught up in it, too!"

Axl curses and makes a dash towards the guardhouse in question, pushing through the heavy feeling of exhaustion that's climbing to his limbs. "Copy that. Give me thirty seconds."

"Okay. Let me know once you're safe in the guardhouse," Ciel replies.

Axl slides into the guardhouse door with such momentum that he nearly crashes straight into the Resistance member who he'd left there earlier. "Sorry!" he says, grabbing the other guy's elbow so he doesn't go tumbling to the ground. "Didn't see you there." Then he redirects his attention to his comm-line. "Ciel, I'm clear; activate the shield."

"Alright," she says, "I'm turning on the shield generator now."

There's a moment of relative quiet, the only sound the stuttering whirs of the Hottaid's drills as it tries to push forward towards the base once more, and then there's suddenly a low hum in the air, a vibration that makes Axl's hair stand on end as a vibrant green energy shield springs to life out of nowhere.

The mining Mechaniloid, either not being possessed of a great deal of intelligence or not possessing any self-preservation programming, clambers out of the ditch it had been digging and charges the shield.

Its first charge rebounds, sending it stumbling back with a bright flash of light. The Hottaid goes tumbling across the ground, and the sound of crunching and screeching metal reaches Axl even sequestered in the guardhouse as he is.

But then the Hittite Hottaid gets back up, and charges the energy shield again.

Axl curses in worry, and opens up the communication line again. "Ciel, it's charging again. Will the shield hold?"

"It'll do better than hold," she responds, and he can hear the fierce determination in her voice. "I'm turning up the energy output," she adds. "If that Mechaniloid impacts the shield again, the backlash should short out its circuitry and render it inert." A slight pause, and then she speaks again. "It'll deplete the shield's overall integrity and we'll need some time to recharge the generator before we can get back to full output, but I think it's worth it to stop this attack, don't you?"

Axl hesitates, uncertain. On the one hand, having the shield generator out of operation for any span of time is not ideal. On the other hand, if they don't remove the threat of the Hittite Hottaid _immediately_ , it's entirely a moot point because the shield generator will be the last of their worries if their base is breached. "It's worth it," he agrees at last. "Do it."

This time, when the Hottaid charges the energy shield there's a flash of light so bright that Axl has to duck down to shield his eyes, and when he lifts his head to look out again all there is to see is a faintly smoking heap of metal where the Hottaid had been.

The energy shield flickers on and off for a moment before vanishing entirely, and Axl very deliberately ignores the twist of anxiety its sudden absence causes; they've lasted this long without the shield, after all. They can make it a few hours while the generator recharges. "Your idea worked," he tells Ciel now. "The Mechaniloid's out of commission. I'll double-check to make sure, but as of right now it looks like we've thwarted Neo Arcadia's attack."

Ciel's gusty sigh of relief is audible, and Axl's fairly sure he can hear cheering in the background. "That's great, Axl. Thank you for your help."

"It was your shield that won the day," he reminds her.

"But we couldn't have done it if you hadn't bought us so much time," she insists firmly. "So thank you."

"It was a team effort," he replies. "But you're welcome."


	9. Chapter 9: Find the Hidden Base

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, everyone! Welcome back! Thanks as always for the amazing feedback on recent chapters, you guys are the best. :D
> 
> In this chapter, we have Axl going on another mission for the Resistance and also another flashback to the past. Also this chapter is a bit heavier on the angst in some places, because Axl is really missing his friends.

**Chapter 9: Find the Hidden Base**

* * *

"I have a new mission for you," Ciel says to him a few days later, when he drifts into the command center. "If you're willing to accept it, of course. "

"Sure," Axl says easily, because as frustrating as the current situation is, all he can really do right now is take the struggle against Neo Arcadia one step at a time (or in this case, one mission at a time). "What is it?"

"We've received information that indicates that our enemy has a prison base hidden deep in the desert," Ciel tells him, pulling up the relevant reports on her computer screen so he can see them for himself. "It is our belief that there are innocent Reploids jailed there as well as criminals. We've been trying to locate it so we can save them," she goes on, "but so far we've been unable to pinpoint its exact location."

"So you want me to find it," Axl surmises.

"Yes," Ciel says with a nod. "If there really are innocent Reploids being held in that prison, we must free them as soon as possible."

Axl isn't precisely thrilled with the idea of returning to the desert, not with the echoes of his last sojourn there clamoring at the back of his mind, but he can't argue with Ciel's logic. If there is a prison base hidden in the desert, then she's right to worry and she's right to want any prisoners freed.

Of course, that also means taking the time to actually verify that the prisoners he frees are, in fact, actually innocent of the crimes they're being imprisoned for. It's going to be a nightmare logistically speaking, but it's not something Axl can skip. After all, the Maverick Virus might have been eradicated, but there are still bad Reploids, Reploids who are selfish and sadistic and need to stopped.

Neo Arcadia as a whole is indisputably the greater evil as things stand right now (although Axl still has hope that someday it can someday go back to being the utopia that X dreamt of, a place where Reploids and humans can live in peace together) but even so Axl isn't willing to risk setting free any prisoners that might do more harm than good.

It's not a comfortable thing, realizing that _he_ is going to have to decide who goes free and who stays imprisoned. It is, quite frankly, just another layer of responsibility that he never asked for and doesn't particularly want, but it's a burden he's willing to shoulder nevertheless because there's no one else who can do it right now.

"Leave it to me," he tells her. "I'll find the hidden base and see what I can do about the prisoners."

* * *

It takes him the better part of ten hours to find the hidden prison using the energy tracker Ciel had given him (which supposedly zeroes in on the energy being put out by the facility's power generator or something; Cerveau had explained it, but Axl had zoned out about twenty minutes into the scientist's spiel).

By the time he does finally locate it he's made it through two simooms and nearly plunged into three crevasses; he's overheated, his armor is tinted brown and orange from the sand, and his hair is matted with dirt and grit. All in all, it could have been worse but he's once again firmly of the opinion that desert environments are the worst.

In any case, infiltrating the prison actually turns out to be rather easy since the security is light; apparently whoever's in charge of this facility is under the assumption that being in the middle of a deadly desert will prevent anyone from stumbling across it (of course, since Axl himself had to work obscenely hard to find the place he can't really fault the logic in that assumption). He slips in through a dilapidated loading dock that looks like it receives supply shipments perhaps once a month at best, and from there it's a simple enough matter to skulk through the hallways until he locates a computer terminal he can hack for information.

_Well_ , he notes with amusement as he bypasses the computer's security protocols and starts delving into its contents, _all those hours spent digging through the Resistance database were good for something after all._ Because without the extra practice searching for elusive information in a chaotic file system, the prison database might have proven difficult to navigate. As things stand now, however, Axl has an easy enough time sifting through the files to find the information he's looking for. And after a little extra finagling, he's able to sort out the prisoners he wants to release from the ones that should remain contained.

And as it turns out, figuring out who is innocent and who isn't is almost laughably easy. Pretty much all of the innocent and falsely accused Reploids have "sedition" or "treason" listed as the reason for incarceration, and given what Axl knows about how Neo Arcadia operates it's practically code for "spoke out against Copy X's psychotic schemes" or even simply "was in the wrong place at the wrong time". Those files are easy enough to separate from the files of actual criminals, whose dossiers have annotations like "murdered three humans in fit of rage" or "detonated explosive device in residential zone, killing seventeen."

Needless to say, he doesn't flag _those_ prisoners for release; they can rot here for all he cares.

In the end, once he's done sorting through and compiling all the available data on the prisoners, there are fourteen Reploids he needs to set free (and eight that he's going to leave behind for one reason or another, with most of those reasons relating to cold-blooded murder of some variety).

Unfortunately, the prisoners he needs to free are scattered throughout the facility, so it takes him the better part of an hour to get them all loose from their cells; it doesn't help that in order to remain inconspicuous he has to fetch them one by one and hide them at the loading dock to wait while he retrieves the others.

He's just escorting the final wrongfully imprisoned Reploid out when suddenly the air temperature plummets to freezing, something all the more noticeable on account of the sweltering heat that had been present just moments before, the desert's dry inferno of an atmosphere penetrating even the thick walls of the prison.

"Th-that's Blizzack Stagroff," the prisoner stammers, looking terrified out of his wits. "He's the warden here. He'll crush us like bugs if he catches us trying to escape!"

"Getting crushed like a bug isn't really on my agenda for today," Axl quips, drawing his pistol even as his breath frosts in the air in front of him. "You should definitely get going, though; head for the loading dock and wait with others. I'll catch up when I can."

"B-but!"

"Don't worry about me, just go," Axl tells the other Reploid, shoving him towards the hallway that leads to the loading dock as heavy footsteps approach from around the corner. "Hurry, run!"

The Reploid hesitates, but as the sound of footsteps grows closer he bolts as Axl had ordered, fleeing towards the loading dock while Axl readies himself for battle.

A massive lumbering beast of a Reploid rounds the corner and Axl vaguely wishes he'd just run with that last prisoner and activated the teleportation beacon because Blizzack Stagroff is _huge_. Axl's not about to break out a tape measure or anything, but he'd estimate that Stagroff is at least as tall as Sigma had been, and perhaps even bulkier. Throw in the fact that he seems to literally be a vicious stag, complete with sharp antlers and a mean glint in his eyes, and Axl actually isn't looking forward the fight that's obviously coming.

"Ah," Stagroff says with an angry snort as he lumbers down the hallway, "so you're the one who's been causing so much trouble for us lately." He shakes his head, antlers gleaming like deadly icicles in the dim light of the hallway. "What's your name, miscreant?"

Axl gives a snort of laughter despite himself. "Miscreant," he sniggers. "Hah." X and Zero would get a laugh out of that, if they were here. Amused and melancholy in equal measure, he shakes his head and forces himself to focus. "I'm Axl," he says. "And you're Blizzack Stagroff, right? Some of the prisoners told me about you." All amusement fades, buried under a wave of dark anger as he recalls precisely what they'd told him, remembers the damage he'd seen on some of their bodies. "They told me that you're a fan of torture. That you like to poke and prod and listen to them scream for mercy under the pretense of interrogating them for information."

An ugly expression twists Stagroff's face. "How dare you question my methods," he snarls. "I am a high-ranking member of Guardian Leviathan's Deep Sea Squadron. I have been in charge of this prison for over a decade. I am-"

"Cruel and ruthless and about to die," Axl interrupts coldly, because he has absolutely no desire to listen to whatever a _torturer_ has to say. "Yes, you are." He opens fire and doesn't stop, not letting up even when Stagroff takes a flying leap into the air in an attempt to land on top of him and stomp him death. He likewise doesn't stop shooting when Blizzack Stagroff starts hurling blocks of ice at him; he just redirects his aim to the ice instead of Stagroff, cracking and then shattering apart the ice blocks with the sheer force that comes from a barrage of unrelenting energy shots.

Then he aims back at Stagroff again and lets loose another volley of shots, leaping backwards when the massive Reploid charges at him in an attempt to gore him on those wickedly sharp horns; it's a close thing, but he manages to avoid getting impaled. He dodges three more giant chunks of thrown ice before finally drawing on the DNA data within him to summon up the Circle Blaze ammunition he'd gained after helping Zero to defeat Flame Hyenard all those years ago.

Once he's equipped with the fire shots, the fight transitions from _moderately difficult_ to _considerably less difficult_. Stagroff, after all, is clearly designed for a cold environment despite his presence in a prison facility that's smack dab in the middle of a desert, which means he's got a built-in weakness to fire.

So Axl blasts Stagroff with Circle Blaze until there's nothing left but a charred and smoldering heap of scrap metal, and then takes a moment just to _breathe_.

_That would've been easier with a team_ , he thinks ruefully, remembering all the narrow misses and close calls in this fight that he previously would've avoided with a well-timed tag-team maneuver, and abruptly he misses his friends so much it _hurts,_ like a chasm splitting open in his chest.

It takes him longer than it should to recover from the grief that's tearing him apart from the inside out, but finally he manages it, stuffing those feelings back down deep so he can focus on the mission.

"Come on, Axl," he mutters to himself. "Get it together and do your job."

Shaking off the echoes of the past, he strides down the hallway to the loading bay and gathers together the freed prisoners so that they can activate the one-way teleportation beacon and return to the safety of the Resistance base.

* * *

There's an impromptu party thrown at the Resistance Base that night, to celebrate the success of Axl's mission and the safe return of the Reploids he'd saved from Neo Arcadia's hidden prison. With the exception of the guards at the main entrance pf their base and the roving security patrol that circles the mountain to watch for unusual activity in the area, everyone packs into the mess hall for an evening of fun and frivolity.

Everyone, of course, except for Axl.

It's not even that he doesn't want to go, because he _does_. That's part of the problem, in fact. Because he genuinely can't recall the last time he did something _just_ for fun, which means he's probably overdue for something besides endless missions and continuous fighting.

But he _can't_.

Because it reminds him too much of _before_ , of being a Maverick Hunter and celebrating successful missions with his friends. Because as much as he likes the members of the Resistance, they're not his family, not in the way X and Zero had been. Or how Red Alert had been.

Because even if he goes to that party, he's going to be alone in a crowd, and he's familiar enough with how that feels to not want to subject himself to it right now.

So he turns away from the mess hall, ignores Ciel calling after him, and retreats to his room. He spares a moment to check on Totten (the little guy is snoozing under the desk again, so Axl just leaves a little stack of E-Crystals nearby for when he wakes up and needs a snack) before heading to his recharging bed and sprawling out.

He ends up staring at the ceiling for a good long while before unconsciousness finally claims him, but sleep doesn't prove to be as much of a respite as he'd been hoping for.

His mind wanders through old battlefields, dredging up memories of his life with Red Alert and the Maverick Hunters and mixing them together with snippets of his more recent missions. The end result is a bizarre dreamscape where Aztec Falcon swoops through the air alongside Wing Crowrang and Anubis Necromancess reanimates Lumine so that Axl has to fight the creep all over again.

All in all, it's as if someone had thrown his entire life into a blender on high speed and then taken the top off so that the contents of the blender splattered everywhere.

It's…really not great.

Finally, though, his mind settles enough for him to end up in an old memory, one from that same day where he, X, and Zero had decided who would go into stasis for the greater good.

It's not a happy memory, precisely. But it's not a bad one, either, so he'll take it.

* * *

" _Zero, you can't be serious," Axl protests. "Why me?"_

" _Because you're the best choice," Zero says, as if that makes any sense whatsoever._

" _Have you lost your mind?" Axl demands. "In what way am I the best choice for going into stasis?"_

" _We've already established that it can't be me," Zero points out. "And X…" He glances over at their friend, who looks both surprised by Zero's choice and strangely accepting, and shakes his head. "Look, you're the right choice, Axl."_

" _No, I'm really not," Axl argues. "Zero, whoever goes into that stasis pod needs to be able to hold their own against anything, needs to be able to think on their feet and adapt to whatever that future world will throw at them. That's not me."_

" _Isn't it?" Zero asks, arching an eyebrow expectantly._

" _No!"_

" _Axl, Zero has a point," X remarks. "Out of the three of us, you're the one who's most adaptable simply through virtue of your abilities. And you're just as capable in a fight as either of us; I don't doubt that you'll be able to handle anything that comes up, even if you're entirely alone."_

" _But I don't_ _ **want**_ _to be alone," Axl snaps, something like genuine alarm creeping into his chest. He's been alone before, alone and on the run with no one to watch his back and he does_ _ **not**_ _want to go back to that, not_ _ **ever**_ _._

_(Just the thought of it reminds him too much of his time from before he became a Maverick Hunter, back when he'd fled from Red Alert and left behind everything he'd ever known on the slim chance that he'd find someplace better for himself._

_He had found that place, and new friends to go along with it, and he hasn't looked back since._

_And he understands how important it is, stopping Weil and protecting the world from his machinations and madness, but Axl doesn't want to sacrifice everything to do it._

_He doesn't want to be alone again, not after finally finding friends he can really be himself around.)_

_X's expression softens, like he understands what running through Axl's mind. "Axl…" He reaches out and rests a hand on Axl's shoulder. "This isn't a decision I can make for you; I won't make it an order. It has to be your choice."_

" _Since when have I ever followed your orders anyway," Axl grumbles, but there's no heat in it._

_His thoughts run in circles as he stacks up the pros and cons and weighs them against his overwhelming desire to just…not do this._

_But he's always been painfully pragmatic, even when it comes to life and death decisions (perhaps_ _**especially** _ _when it comes to life and death decisions, given his history as an assassin for Red Alert). In the end, there's only one decision to be made, only one choice he can make with the least amount of regret given the circumstances._

_After all, there's more at stake here than his feelings; he can't afford to be selfish with the fate of the world potentially on the line._

" _Alright, fine," he says, exhaling gustily. "I'll do it."_


	10. Rescue Colbor and Milan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, not gonna lie, I have been looking forward to this chapter for a while because this is when I finally get to introduce Harpuia, who is one of my absolute favorite Megaman Zero characters. And boy oh boy do I have plans for him. *cackles gleefully*
> 
> That being said, for the most part this chapter corresponds to the similarly titled mission in the first game. But of course, since we have Axl as our protagonist instead of Zero, there are a few differences. Enjoy!

**Chapter 10: Rescue Colbor and Milan**

* * *

Things settle down a bit after the prison base mission, but Axl knows better than to get too complacent; he knows better than most how quickly a comfortable situation can turn into a complicated one at the drop of a hat.

And sure enough, about a week later Ciel comes crashing into his room with a frantic look on her face, eyes wide and cheeks flushed as she pants for breath. "W-we have a problem," she stammers, anxiety thick in her voice.

Axl sets aside the book he'd been reading, standing up from the desk and going over to her immediately. "What is it?" he asks worriedly. "What's wrong?"

"It's Colbor and Milan," she replies, still gasping for breath in a way that makes Axl think she must have sprinted here all the way from the command center. "They were on a mission to scout out a potential subterranean entrance into one of Neo Arcadia's more critical bases, but something must have gone wrong. We lost contact with their team over forty minutes ago, and I'm really worried that they've been discovered. Please," she goes on, reaching out to clutch at his shoulders, "please, can you go find them and bring them back safely? I know Colbor is reckless sometimes but he has a good heart, and Milan is one of my oldest friends…I can't stand the thought of losing them."

Axl grasps her hands in his and gently squeezes, trying to offer as much reassurance as he can despite the spike of alarm in his chest. "I'll leave right away," he promises. "And I'll do everything in my power to bring them home safe, okay?"

Ciel nods jerkily, tears shining in her eyes. "Okay," she whispers, but he can't tell if she actually believes him or not.

Not that it matters, really; he's going to do his best to save Colbor and Milan and the rest of their team regardless of whether or not anyone believes it's possible. After all, they're his friends, too. And after the last few months spent working with the Resistance, he doesn't like the thought of losing them, either.

* * *

Axl doesn't waste any time once he locates the subterranean tunnel that Colbor and Milan's team had been investigating; he breaks into a full-tilt run, dashing through the dimly lit tunnel as fast as he can go. Because while Colbor isn't a Reploid he knows very well, Milan is someone that Axl genuinely considers a friend; Axl can still remember Milan cheerfully handing over his Buster and then later insisting that Axl hang on to it. They've crossed paths a few times since then, normally in Ciel's company since beyond their struggle against Neo Arcadia her friendship is the most notable thing they have in common, and Axl genuinely likes the guy. He doesn't want to get there too late to save him, or any of the other Resistance members.

"Axl, please be careful," Ciel says, transmitting a message through to him as he gets deeper and deeper into the tunnel. "We're picking up increased comm activity from the enemy; we're not sure why."

Axl files that knowledge away and decides to proceed with as much caution as he can given the circumstances. "Something's got 'em riled up, huh? Interesting."

"Axl, I'm worried that Colbor and Milan's team might have been taken hostage," Ciel says urgently, the transmission crackling from the force of her words. "Please, you have to hurry!"

"I'm on it," he replies, disconnecting the call and pushing himself even harder because he doesn't want to be too late to save a friend, not this time and not ever again if he can help it.

He gets there just in time to see a Reploid in green armor and a winged helmet send Colbor flying through the air; Colbor crashes into Milan, and the two of them go sprawling across the floor in a tangle of limbs.

Axl fires off a warning shot without slowing his stride, and the energy bullet zips through the air right past the green Reploid's cheek as he takes a step towards the fallen Resistance soldiers. "Stay away from them," Axl snaps, and wastes no time in crossing the distance to put himself between his comrades and their enemy.

"Axl," Milan gasps, struggling to disentangle himself from Colbor, who seems to have been knocked unconscious, "what are you doing here?"

"Ciel sent me to find you, of course," Axl returns, keeping his pistol trained on the green Reploid, whose sharp gaze in turn stays riveted on Ax with an almost eagle-like intensity. "She seemed to feel that you and Colbor might have gotten yourselves into trouble," he adds dryly.

(He tries not to think about the other Resistance Reploids who he's too late to save; it looks as if part of the tunnel had collapsed on them during whatever fighting had transpired before Axl's arrival, and as much as he hates to admit it he knows that there's nothing that can be done for them now.

All he can do right now in this moment is focus on saving Colbor and Milan, so that's what he's going to do.)

"You guys should get out of here," he says now, taking a step to the side so he can help Milan heft Colbor up off the ground into a fireman's carry across Milan's shoulders. "Get as far away as you can, and contact Ciel so she can transport you back to base."

"But what about you?" Milan asks.

"Don't worry about me, just go," Axl insists, shoving Milan towards the tunnel's exit. "Hurry, go! Run!"

Milan curses under his breath, but he goes, staggering under Colbor's weight but managing to hustle away down the tunnel at a quick enough pace.

The green Reploid's gaze narrows as Milan and Colbor disappear from view, but he doesn't attempt to pursue. His primary focus seems to be on Axl instead. "So you're the one who's been causing so much trouble recently," he remarks. "Axl, was it?"

"That would be me," he acknowledges. "And you are?"

"My name is Harpuia," the other Reploid replies. "I am one of the four Guardians who serve Master X."

Axl frowns, the words calling to mind another conversation with another Reploid, months ago and in a much different place. "Harpuia," he repeats. "Commander of the…Strong Air Battalion, right?"

An expression of surprise flits across Harpuia's face, there and gone again so quickly that Axl wonders if it was a figment of his imagination. "You know who I am, then," Harpuia says.

"Not really," Axl says honestly, shrugging in a fashion that is perhaps more casual than the tense situation warrants. "Aztec Falcon mentioned your name when I fought him, that's all."

Harpuia's mouth turns down into a frown, green eyes flashing with some strong emotion that Axl can't decipher. "I see." He remains silent for another moment, then manifests two energy blades. "Well, no matter. My mission remains the same, and I have never known defeat. Prepare to be destroyed!"

The fight that follows is the most challenging battle that Axl has participated in since being woken from stasis, more harrowing than even his fight against Anubis Necromancess; it's immediately apparent that Harpuia, agile and fierce and unrelenting, is a combatant who's on another level entirely compared to the other Neo Arcadian Reploids that Axl has fought up until now.

Tactically speaking, it's a bit like sparring against Wind Crowrang, if Crowrang had ever attempted to kill him on behalf of a totalitarian regime.

Axl has a slight advantage since the tunnel they're in is spacious but not expansive, which seems to be limiting Harpuia's aerial movements; the other Reploid simply doesn't have enough space to pull off some of the more powerful swooping attacks that he'd otherwise be capable of.

But even with slightly limited mobility, Harpuia is still dangerous, moving so quickly and striking with such accuracy that Axl can't let his guard down even for a second. The only thing that soothes his frustration over their action-packed stalemate is the knowledge that he's more or less matching Harpuia's every move, which means that his opponent must be growing frustrated as well.

Then Harpuia dive bombs him again without warning, his energy blades slicing through the air towards Axl's neck. "Die!"

Axl flings himself backwards with a curse, firing off a volley of shots in an attempt to make the other Reploid veer off.

It works…partially, at least; Harpuia has to adjust his trajectory to avoid Axl's shots, and that delay gives Axl just enough time to avoid being beheaded. He's not quite fast enough to avoid the attack entirely, though, and gets a gash across his chest armor for his trouble. It's painful, but doesn't impact any critical systems so he ignores the damage and focuses on retaliation instead, even as he takes note of how two of his shots have managed to strike true and leave scorching craters in Harpuia's abdominal armor.

The fight somehow becomes even more intense from that point on, and the air of the tunnel soon becomes thick with dust and the scent of ozone as they trade attacks and try to land strikes on each other.

Finally, though, Axl manages to get in one final crucial shot; right as Harpuia is swooping down from overhead again, Axl dives forward into a roll and then bounces to his feet and pivots around, letting loose a shot that lands in the exact same spot as one of his earlier shots.

Harpuia lets out a sharp cry of pain and plummets from above to crash into the ground, face scrunched up in pain as sparks of electricity crackle in and around his wounds.

Axl stays where he is for a moment, half-waiting for Harpuia to surge to his feet and resume his assault, but the Guardian's weapons had gone clattering away when he'd crashed and he makes no move to reach for them, instead simply clutching at his wounds as he raggedly pants for breath.

Axl takes a deep breath and walks closer, a finger resting lightly on the trigger of his pistol as he goes.

Harpuia notices Axl's approach from the sound of his footfalls, vivid green eyes slitting open to glare at him. "What are you staring at?" he demands, voice sharp with fury and pain. "Hurry up and finish it already!"

Axl's footsteps falter, and then stop entirely as he comes to a halt just few short steps away from Harpuia. He stands there in silence for a moment, then holsters his pistol. "…You and Aztec Falcon are too similar," he says at last, and if his voice comes out more tired than he intends, well. It's been a long day. "Don't be in such a rush to die," he adds, because he doesn't like to see anyone so eager for it all to be over, not even an enemy.

(It reminds him far too much of another fight, year and years ago, against a mentor who had given up and chosen to die rather than simply take Axl's hand.

" _Let me go first,"_ his mentor had said. _"You're still young."_

It had been poetic and noble for Red to go down in flames along with the base where he'd built Red Alert up from nothing but dust and dreams, but to this day Axl is still _furious_ with him over it even as he continues to mourn his death.

" _It's my time,"_ Red had said, and Axl has never despised anything as much as he hates those three little words.

" _Don't be in such a rush,_ " Red had said to him, and Axl has carried those words in his heart all these years.

It feels strange, to say those same words to someone else.

Strange…but oddly fitting, too.)

Harpuia stares at him in open disbelief, suspicion and confusion warring for dominance in his gaze. "You can't let me live," he says, sounding almost insulted by the possibility of being shown mercy. "I am your enemy, and you are mine!"

Axl huffs out a broken laugh. "Yeah, well, at the moment I'm an enemy who doesn't feel like killing you." He turns and heads for the tunnel entrance.

There's a moment of stunned silence, and then, "I may have underestimated you this time, but the next time we cross paths I _will_ destroy you!"

It's tempting to look back, to glance over his shoulder and see what expression Harpuia wearing, but he doesn't. "You're welcome to try," he says instead. "Until then…bye." And he walks into the darkness, leaving Harpuia behind.

(Axl's sure they'll meet again, though. After all, as long as he's going up against Neo Arcadia, it's inevitable that he'll encounter its Guardians.)


	11. Chapter 11: Interlude with Harpuia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so! I have been excited for this chapter ever since I first sat down and started brainstorming this story, because 1) this interlude is entirely from Harpuia's perspective and 2) it gives us a chance to see the effect that some of Axl's decisions/actions earlier in the story are having on the world outside of the Resistance. Specifically, the impact those actions are having on Harpuia and what that might mean moving forward. ;D

**Chapter 11: Interlude with Harpuia**

* * *

Harpuia stares at the files strewn across his worktable, thoughts whirling through his mind so quickly that they might as well be caught in hurricane-strength winds. He'd known that the Resistance was causing more trouble than usual, had been more effective in their actions against Neo Arcadia, but he hadn't been able to pinpoint the cause until recently. Hadn't been able to attribute the change to anything specific until reports from some of the surviving soldiers started coming in. And even then, he hadn't really believed it.

After all, what difference could one single Reploid make, against the might of Neo Arcadia?

But those reports had been very clear, as had Aztec Falcon's firsthand account of what had transpired at the Disposal Factory.

" _He could have killed me," Falcon had told him, looking disgruntled and baffled in equal measure. "His pistol was aimed straight for my head, and his aim was such that he would not have missed. But…but he lowered his gun, and let me leave. No," Falcon had corrected, shaking his head, "more than that. He told me to leave, gave me enough time to get clear of the blast radius before he triggered the generator to explode." He had looked at Harpuia, then, the confusion writ clear on his face. "Why would he do that?"_

Harpuia hadn't had an answer for him, hadn't been able to fathom _why_ a Resistance operative would spare the life of a high-ranking Neo Arcadia soldier. This strange scarred Reploid, this _Axl_ , doesn't make _sense_ , and Harpuia finds it frustrating.

This newest member of the Resistance has been tearing through Neo Arcadia's most secure facilities as if their defenses were made of tissue paper, and yet he's not an indiscriminate killer slaughtering everything in his path. He had spared Aztec Falcon, and perhaps it's mawkish sentimentality born of Falcon's position as Harpuia's favorite lieutenant, but Harpuia can't discount that. Because if he had been in Axl's position, facing down an enemy that was standing in the way of his mission? He would not have hesitated to cut that enemy down without mercy.

But Axl had let Falcon live.

And more than that, Axl had let _Harpuia_ live.

It rankles, more than a little, because who is this upstart to defeat _him_ , Sage Harpuia of the Four Guardians, Commander of the Strong Air Battalion? And yet Axl had met him strike for strike, moving with an agility that Harpuia had not anticipated and carrying himself with a confidence that implied a familiarity with combat.

A battle Reploid of some sort, then, built for combat but just as clearly capable of more than basic fighting. There was a gleam in Axl's eyes that spoke of intelligence, sharp and watchful and assessing, and then there was that thrice-damned compassion that had caused him to spare not just Falcon's life but Harpuia's as well and Harpuia _does not understand_.

_At the moment, I'm an enemy who doesn't feel like killing you_ , Axl had said, but Harpuia cannot fathom a battle Reploid of such skill also possessing such a capacity for mercy; it doesn't make _sense_.

And then there's the matter of the prison.

Leviathan had been furious when she'd heard of Blizzack Stagroff's defeat, had raged and grieved and vowed vengeance, but all Harpuia could think of was the prisoners that Axl had set free.

And the prisoners he _hadn't_ set free.

Because when he'd first heard that the desert prison had been breached and the prisoners released, he'd felt a sharp spike of fury accompanied by a smaller pulse of emotion that wasn't _quite_ alarm but something very close.

Because there _had_ been Reploids unjustly imprisoned in that facility; he knows that, and regrets it, but at the end of the day they're all at the mercy of their leader and Master X has demonstrated all too clearly what happens to those who disobey him.

But there had been Reploids imprisoned there _with cause_ as well, Reploids who were dangerous and bloodthirsty and who wouldn't hesitate to snuff out innocent lives if turned loose upon the world again.

When he'd heard of Stagroff's defeat and the release of the prisoners, he'd assumed that _all_ of the prisoners had been released. He had thought that innocent and guilty alike had been set free, and he'd been just as furious as Leviathan but for different reasons.

She was enraged that one of her lieutenants had been defeated and destroyed; Harpuia had been infuriated because some of those prisoners had been genuinely dangerous and should not have been let loose into the world to do more harm.

He'd been preparing to set aside his current assignments to track down those escaped prisoners when some of Phantom's spies had sent him reports from the prison, reports detailing not just the physical damage that the building had undergone but also listing the prisoners that had _not_ been released.

Harpuia had spent far longer than was reasonable staring at that particular report.

Because all of those dangerous prisoners? The ones he had been preparing to hunt down himself so that they did not pose a danger to society?

(Because Harpuia may be bound to follow Master X's orders, but he still remembers his original purpose of protecting humanity, and that means he can't let dangerous murderers roam free.)

Those Reploids are still in their cells.

Axl had set free only the Reploids guilty of non-violent crimes, the ones whose only crime had been to speak out against Master X and his methods.

And Harpuia just…doesn't know what to do with that.

He's spent so long fighting for Neo Arcadia, enforcing Master X's dictates and burying down the niggling instinct that says _this isn't right_ , working towards the goal of crushing the Resistance because that's what Master X has ordered them to do, and Harpuia and his fellow Guardians _must_ follow X's orders, and now…

Now there's a scarred Reploid with a youthful face and sharp, knowing eyes who is slowly but surely taking apart Neo Arcadia's grip on the world piece by piece, and Harpuia genuinely doesn't know how he feels about it.

Axl is fierce in battle, relentless and unyielding, but he's also fiercely compassionate in a way that Harpuia isn't familiar with, has never seen before.

(It's a stark contrast to what Harpuia has grown accustomed to, serving under Master X. And he _knows_ he shouldn't question it, because it's only a short leap from questioning to disobeying, but he wonders…

He wonders if Axl's way of doing things is similar to how Master X was _supposed_ to behave, if those scientists who had made X had intended for him to be a Reploid dedicated to the greater good, instead of just himself and his twisted plans for peace that are rooted in Reploid genocide.

Because the X that Harpuia and his siblings serve isn't the original; he knows that, too, has known that ever since he first opened his eyes. Because he'd been created to serve the _original_ X, him and his siblings invented for the purpose of helping to restore the world and make it more habitable for humans again, but they hadn't been activated until centuries after the leader they were meant to serve was gone.

Leaving them with just _Master_ X, cruel and capricious and almost childlike in his overconfidence.

But this X is the only X he's ever known, the first one so far removed from him by the sands of time that he might as well have never existed at all as far as Harpuia is concerned. And he is bound to follow the orders of Neo Arcadia's leader, whoever that leader may be.

But Axl…Axl's presence changes things. Already, the scarred Reploid has thrown things into chaos, upsetting the order of things.

Harpuia finds himself wondering what will happen if Axl ever confronts Master X directly.

And despite his sworn loyalty to the leader of Neo Arcadia, he's honestly not sure what outcome he would prefer.)


	12. Chapter 12: Duel in the Desert

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! Thanks as always for the amazing feedback, you guys always make me smile with your excellent comments! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! The first half of the chapter involves meeting and fighting Fefnir as per the events of the original game, and the second half involves, uh…red and blue fireflies (it'll make sense once you've read the chapter, I promise!). In any case, I'm looking forward to hearing what you guys think. ;D

**Chapter 12: Duel in the Desert**

* * *

"We just received a report that enemies are assembling in the desert area," Ciel tells him a few days after his confrontation with Harpuia, and it takes all of his self-control not to groan because the _desert_? _Again?_

He's not sure who he offended in a past life to keep getting sent to the desert, but he very much wants the trips to the hot and sandy wasteland to _stop_.

"They haven't started any sort of attack yet but the scouts report that they're moving this way so a large-scale assault is expected," Ciel goes on, oblivious to Axl's long-suffering distaste for the desert. "Our shield generator is back up to full power and I've also ordered a team to begin erecting barricades as a precaution, but I'm still worried," she adds, eyes dark with concern. "A force that large could do a lot of damage. Is there anything you can do?"

Axl rubs the back of his neck, trying to ease some of the tension there. "Yeah," he says after a moment. "I'll head out there and see what I can do. At the very least I should be able to take out some of the enemy combatants; losing enough soldiers might dissuade them from attacking us directly." After all, an assault force can't mount an assault if it's been decimated itself. "Anything else I need to know before I leave?" he asks, already heading for the transport room.

Ciel shakes her head. "No. But I'll contact you if we learn anything new that could help," she promises.

"Thanks," he says, and then it's off to the desert for him. Again.

* * *

It takes him about two and a half hours, but he manages to cut a considerable swath in the enemy's advancing force; he loses count of exactly how many Pantheons he destroys sometime after a hundred, which is probably for the best given how he feels about them, but in the end his exhaustive effort succeeds and the remaining bulk of the assault force falters and begins to turn back.

Axl heads to one of the Resistance's barricades to catch his breath and bask in his victory.

Unfortunately, his respite only lasts about five minutes, and then a dark smudge appears on the horizon. As it comes closer, he can faintly make out the sound of chopper rotors and has to stifle a frustrated curse.

"A transport chopper is rapidly approaching," a Resistance soldier says next, peering through a pair of binoculars and confirming Axl's suspicions. "It probably has troop reinforcements. What do we do?"

"Stay here," Axl orders. "I'll take care of it." And so he heads back out, vaulting over the barricade and heading for more open ground so that he has a clear line of sight.

He opens fire on the helicopter as soon as it comes within range of his pistol's shots, and focuses his aim on the chopper's tail rotor in an attempt to cripple its movement. The chopper veers to the side in an attempt to avoid his shots, but Axl redoubles his efforts and within moments there's a thick plume of smoke coming from the back of the helicopter.

There's no time to bask in that success either, though, because barely fifteen seconds later a Reploid with dark skin and thick red armor vaults from the helicopter to stand before him. "So _you're_ the one," the Reploid says, looking disproportionately pleased to see Axl pointing a gun at his face.

"I'm the one what?" Axl asks warily, finger on the trigger.

"I heard that there was a highly skilled battle Reploid in the Resistance," the newcomer replies, a faintly wild grin on his face as his vibrant red eyes practically burn with anticipation. "But I never expected you to be _this_ good." He glances around at all the fallen Pantheons with something close to awe. "Your skill is amazing," he goes on, whipping out two massive firearms that resemble a hand-held energy cannons more than anything, "so this will be a great fight!"

"Don't I at least get to know your name first?" Axl asks dryly. "I mean, almost every other Reploid from Neo Arcadia that's tried to killed me has shown good manners and introduced themselves first. It would be a shame for you to break the pattern, don't you think?"

His enemy gives a sharp laugh, grin somehow growing even wider. "I think I almost like you," he says. "I am the Guardian Fefnir, commander of the Scorched Earth Squadron. And you?"

Fefnir, he recalls, is Anubis Necromancess's commanding officer. And if Anubis himself had given Axl such trouble, then the Guardian he served (or serves? Axl isn't sure if Anubis had resurrected after their fight or not) is almost definitely going to be just as formidable.

(He can't decide if he likes the idea of an incredibly challenging fight or not; Fefnir clearly does, if that grin on his face is any indication, but as much as Axl likes the rush of battle he's still pretty far removed from the cocky kid who flung himself headfirst into combat without a second thought.

There is still that wild part of him, though, that little voice at the back of his mind that sees a potentially deadly challenge and says, _Looks like fun_.

…Okay, so maybe he's not so far removed from his younger reckless years, after all.)

"I'm Axl," he replies, and then the fight begins.

Fefnir shoots first, and the part of Axl that's a firearms specialist has to admire the power and accuracy of his opponent's canons even as he dodges to the side to avoid the energy blasts they unleash.

Axl ducks behind a nearby boulder for temporary cover (the blasts from Fefnir's guns will undoubtedly reduce the rock to rubble if he lingers there too long) and returns fire, aiming for the gaps in Fefnir's armor in an attempt to put him out of commission without outright killing him.

Fefnir proves to be quick on his feet, though, swiftly avoiding Axl's shots before unleashing another barrage of his own.

They continue on like that for what seems like a small eternity, trading shots back and forth, each of them landing some hits but neither of them taking enough damage to declare the fight finished.

Finally, after about another twenty minutes of them exchanging increasingly powerful shots, Fefnir does something with his guns, charging them up in tandem so that they're crackling with so much energy that they seem to literally be glowing with heat.

Axl, not being an idiot, knows better than to let whatever attack is coming get anywhere near him, much less strike him directly. So he hastily sifts through the DNA data within him to find a suitable weapon to counter with, and eventually selects the G-Launcher he'd acquired after defeating Vanishing Gungaroo during his early days working with the Maverick Hunters.

The resulting explosion sends Axl and Fefnir flying through the air in opposite directions at such high speeds that the surrounding scenery is little more than a colored blur; Axl attempts to use his hover jets to slow his momentum, but he slams into a massive boulder before he can do much, his head cracking hard against the stone, and then everything goes dark.

When he comes to, there's a slight chill in the air and night seems to be falling, the bright blue of the daytime sky fading into darker cobalts and violets as the sun drops down towards the horizon. Axl tries to lever himself upright to squint at the setting sun so that he can gauge the time, but the pain in his head is so great that his vision swims and he has to let himself collapse back onto the ground with a groan.

He's not sure how long he lies there, vision blurred and thoughts jumbled as he stares up at the darkening sky; he knows he should try to get up, should figure out where Fefnir disappeared to, should drag himself out of the desert and return to the Resistance base, but…

But his vision isn't clearing, his entire body hurts to the point that the pain is one small step away from being strong enough to knock him out again, he doesn't even know _where_ he landed, and he's _tired_.

So he doesn't move. Doesn't get up. He _should_ , he knows that. Knows that there's still a lot of work he has to do before he can rest for good. Knows that Ciel and the others must be getting worried by now, but he just…can't seem to muster up the energy or willpower to care, not when he feels like he's about to plunge down into unconsciousness again at any moment.

Part of him can't help but wonder if the Resistance would even miss him if he never makes it back, if he succumbs to his injuries and gets buried beneath the sands of the desert.

Oh, he knows for certain that they'd miss his effectiveness, his ability to follow through on his missions and deal crippling blows to the might of Neo Arcadia, but would they miss _him_?

He isn't sure. Ciel would, probably, because she has a kind heart and would feel responsible if he gets himself killed helping the Resistance. Milan might regret his death, too, and perhaps Colbor and some of the other Resistance soldiers he's worked with over the last few months would regret it as well.

He doesn't know if they'd truly _mourn_ him, though, doesn't know if his death would leave a gaping hole in anyone's life they way X and Zero's deaths have left gaping holes in his.

He doesn't get up, thoughts drifting even as his vision darkens further, shadows creeping in at the edges of his blurry sight. A low wind kicks up, dusting him with a fine layer of gritty sand that seeps into the cracks in his armor and into his joints.

He lets his eyes fall closed, and he drifts even more.

An indeterminate amount of time later, the low murmur of voices reaches him as if from very far away, the sound echoing strangely and half the words not eve registering in Axl's exhausted mind.

"-badly injured," one voice says, low and worried in a way that's painfully familiar. "That explosion was very powerful."

"He can make it if he tries," another voice says, gruff but certain, and that's familiar, too, so familiar that it makes something in Axl's chest twist in grief. "Axl," the voice goes on. "you need to get up."

Axl can't bring himself to open his eyes; he _knows_ that this is some sort of auditory hallucination brought on by stress and pain and yet even so he can't stand the thought of opening his eyes and seeing only the empty expanse of desert around him.

"Axl," the second voice says again, " _get up_."

"Can't," he mumbles, because it's the truth. Or close to the truth, at least. "Hurts. Tired."

"Zero," the first voice says, "there's not much time; we can't manifest outside of Cyberspace for much longer, there isn't enough energy to spare."

The words don't make sense to Axl, but he supposes that's to be expected; this whole thing is a conjuration of his tired and desperate concussed mind, after all, of course it's going to be nonsensical.

A sound of frustration. "I know," the second voice replies. Then, "Axl, come on, get up."

"Can't," Axl repeats, letting his eyes crack open for a second; he gets an impression of red armor and long blonde hair before his eyes drift shut again.

There's the sensation of hands grabbing him suddenly, yanking him upright so fast that it makes his head spin, pulling him out of the sand and into a standing position. "Yes, you _can_ ," that familiar voice insists. "On your feet, Maverick Hunter."

Axl sucks in a sharp breath, struggling to shake off the intense feeling of vertigo that's got him wobbling in place, eyes shut tight as a wave of nausea washes over him. "Jerk," he mutters reflexively, the word slipping out without thought, but there's no bite to it, just irritable fondness.

Two huffs of laughter greet the sound of his voice, and something like warmth creeps into Axl's chest despite his overall miserable state.

"There you are," the second voice says, sounding wryly amused. "I was starting to wonder if that hit to the head had knocked something loose."

Axl grumbles under his breath as the first voice speaks again, gentle and firm and so familiar that it _aches_. "Axl, I'm sorry," that voice says, "but we're out of time. Zero and I don't have enough energy to manifest here for much longer." The words _still_ don't make any sense but before Axl can demand clarification from his auditory hallucination (because it _has_ to be a hallucination, this can't be real, it's _impossible_ ), the voice goes on, addressing the presence that's directly in front of Axl. "Zero, will he be alright? He's not too injured to return to the base on his own?"

"Nah," the second voice says, confident even as the phantom hands gripping Axl's shoulders fall away. "He'll be fine. After all, he's a Hunter. And you know how stubborn he is."

"Okay," the first voice says softly, the tone of relief almost palpable. "That's good."

And then, abruptly, the two presences vanish as if they'd never been there to begin with, leaving him alone in the desert once more.

His eyes fly open and his vision is still fuzzy and his head is still pounding, but he's determined to see something, _anything_ to tell him that the last several minutes hadn't been just the workings of his concussed imagination.

All he sees, however, is the darkening desert sky, with bright stars peeking out from behind the lazy clouds that are drifting through the air above him. There's something else a short distance away, a sparkling cluster of what might be some sort of fireflies swarming around, little sparks glowing red and blue before they wink out of sight.

Axl stands there for a long moment, wrestling with the disappointment and grief that's tangled up inside of him. _Just my imagination after all_ , he thinks, and it's not precisely _surprising_ given how hard he'd hit his head after that explosion, but…

It's still disappointing, because it had seemed _so real_ , their voices so close and so genuine that Axl could have almost believed in miracles for a moment.

Because it had _felt_ like X and Zero, coming to check on him after a rough fight like they'd done so many times in the past, and Axl wants it to be true so badly that seeing nothing but empty sand dunes around him is practically heart-breaking.

Finally, he manages to get his emotions under control. And after taking a few more minutes to assess his physical condition and confirm that while he has accumulated a lot of serious damage, his systems are still functional enough to let him traverse the desert without collapsing again, he starts the trek back to Resistance headquarters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, look, fireflies! *whistles innocently*
> 
> (Also, don't worry: Fefnir's fine, too! A bit battered, same as Axl, but he'll live and we'll see him again.)
> 
> Anyway, I am totally looking forward to hearing what you guys think of this chapter! ;D


	13. Chapter 13: Protect Factory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! The feedback on the last chapter was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, you guys are awesome. :D As always, thank you so much to everyone who's reading this; I'm thrilled that all of you are enjoying the story so much, it means a lot to me. Anyway, in this chapter we'll be meeting another Guardian, so that should be fun, right? ;D Oh, and there's another flashback! Enjoy!

**Chapter 13: Protect Factory**

* * *

It takes Axl the better part of a month to recover from his fight with Fefnir, which is frustrating in the extreme but also to be expected. That explosion had flung him quite a distance, after all, and done quite a lot of damage; even with his advanced auto-repair systems, recovering from such an intense battle takes time, and he knows that.

Under normal circumstances, the requisite convalescence would be mildly annoying but otherwise acceptable. But now? When he's dealing with the escalating conflict against Neo Arcadia (and also the not-so-slim possibility that he's _losing his mind_ , if that hallucination of his friends in the desert is any indication), the downtime chafes. He can't shake the feeling that things are escalating, coming to a head, and the feeling is so pervasive that he has a hard time not bouncing off the walls as he heals.

But Ciel, for all her kindness, is adamant about not letting him back out on missions until he's fully recovered. She steadfastly refuses to give him any new assignments, and so he's left to his own devices for the duration of his recovery.

He ends up hanging out with Milan and Colbor pretty frequently, the three of them commiserating over being stuck at base to recuperate from their injuries while the fight against Neo Arcadia marches on without them.

He also spends more time with Totten, who recently experienced something of a growth spurt, transitioning into the Cyber Elf equivalent of adolescence, complete with a slightly more mature appearance and heightened abilities (and a corresponding lack of control over those abilities, which leads Axl to dedicate a few hours of each day to helping his little partner train and adjust to his new capabilities).

And, of course, he (perhaps inevitably) finds himself thinking about the past whenever he slows down enough for his worries and loneliness to pounce on him. One memory in particular keeps playing on a loop in the back of his mind, a snippet from just before he'd gone into stasis.

* * *

_Axl eyes the stasis equipment that he'll be hooked up to soon and lets loose an aggravated sigh. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this," he complains to Zero._

_Zero gives him one of those rare smiles, warm and genuine in a way that he only is around his few close friends. "Relax, Axl; everything thing will be fine."_

" _Easy for you to say," he grumbles. "You and X get to stay awake, while I get_ _ **this**_ _." He gestures to the equipment with a grimace, wishing X was there to complain to as well but also a bit glad that he isn't because he doesn't want X to feel guilty that Axl is doing this so he doesn't have to._

_(Unfortunately -or perhaps fortunately, depending on one's perspective- their friend had been called away last minute to deal with some sort of urgent crisis that absolutely needed his attention despite the fact that Axl is about to go into stasis for an indeterminable amount of time._

_It went without saying that X had been deeply unhappy with the timing of his summons, but Axl had reassured him that it was fine, that he understood; they'd exchanged their farewells at the Maverick Hunter HQ before Axl and Zero had left to come to the science lab.)_

_Zero huffs out a low laugh. "Axl, seriously, calm down. It'll be over before you know it. Literally," he adds with a faint smirk. "You're going to close your eyes, and then the next thing you know you'll be waking up in the future."_

" _You," Axl says with as much dignity as he can muster up while still maintaining a respectable pout, "are a_ _ **jerk**_ _."_

_Zero cuffs him lightly on the head. "Takes one to know one," he retorts._

_Axl makes a face at him, then sobers. "You and X will be okay?" he asks worriedly. "While I'm…gone?"_

" _We'll get by," is all Zero says at first. "It'll be hard at first, with just the two of us. Got used to being a three-man team," he adds with a wry smile. "It'll be strange without you around, that's for sure."_

_A warm sensation fills up Axl's chest and he has to swallow hard against the sudden lump in his throat. "Aww, you do care," he says teasingly once he's got his emotions back under control._

" _Shut up," Zero huffs, but there's no bite to it._

* * *

The memories are bittersweet as always, but Axl finds himself strangely grateful for them despite that; he'd much rather have memories that cause him both joy and grief than have no memories at all.

Finally, Axl's auto-repair systems finish their work and he's given the all-clear to return to active field work (for which he is immensely grateful; too much time spent confined to the base had been about to drive him even _more_ crazy than he already is, regardless of the good company he'd had during the last four weeks).

He goes to find Ciel in the command center so he can catch up on what he's missed and is immediately greeted with a bright smile and a tight hug.

"I'm really glad you're feeling better," Ciel says in response to his declaration that he's fully recovered, her expression warm.

"Me, too," Axl says honestly. Then, "What do you have for me?"

Ciel gives a considering hum as she turns back to her work console. "There haven't been any serious incidents that need your attention," she says after a moment, "but I was hoping that you wouldn't mind traveling to the factory we took over, to check up on things?"

Axl frowns. "I don't mind at all," he replies, "but why now, all of a sudden? Is everything okay?"

Ciel chews on her bottom lip, looking uncertain. "It's possible that I'm just worrying for no reason," she admits. "Thanks to you, we were able to gain control of that facility and begin producing our own energy in greater quantities, but…"

"But?" he prompts.

"I'm worried that it can't last," she responds. "Neo Arcadia _knows_ we've taken over that factory, and I don't think that they'll be able to let it go on much longer; they'll view it as an insult. Truthfully," she adds, "I'm surprised that they haven't tried to shut down our operations there already."

Phrased like that, Axl can understand where Ciel's worry is coming from. "I'll go out to the factory," he tells her. "I can look around for enemy activity, check the security measures, stuff like that."

"Really?" Ciel looks at him with wide, hopeful eyes. "Oh, that would make me feel so much better, thank you so much!"

Axl pats her on the shoulder. "No problem," he says. "Leave it to me."

* * *

He knows that something is wrong the second he steps through the factory entrance.

He can hear the whirring and chugging of the generators from deeper within the facility, but there are no _people_ anywhere that he can see. None of the factory workers or scientists who should have been there, bustling around and supervising the energy output. No one from the maintenance crew, tasked with keeping the machines in good condition. Even the two sentries that should have greeted him upon his entry are nowhere to be seen.

"I have a very bad feeling about this," he mutters, pulling out his pistol because this entire situation is pinging at his battle instincts in the worst possible way. After all, nothing says 'ambush' like an eerily deserted building that should be full of people.

He prowls through the factory, clearing one room at a time and getting increasingly worried as he goes; he sees signs of struggles in some places (a dropped clipboard here, some scuff marks on the floor over there) but he still doesn't find any of the people that should have been staffed here.

Then he gets down to the basement, and finds them. They are, to his relief, not dead but rather knocked out; their hands and legs are bound to prevent escape but beyond that Axl can't find anything seriously wrong with them beyond some light damage.

But the question remains: who had done this? Who in Neo Arcadia's employ is skilled enough to infiltrate the factory and knock out every single person in the building, all without raising a single alarm?

He gets his answer a moment later, when a Reploid in black armor appears out of nowhere, seeming to literally manifest out of the shadows with a massive shuriken in one hand.

"I am Phantom of the Four Guardians," he says by way of introduction, "commander of the Cutting Shadows Squadron. And you…you're the one my brothers spoke of," the ninja-themed Reploid goes on, expression inscrutable beneath the mask that's obscuring the top half of his face. "Axl, the so-called hero of the Resistance. You've caused quite a lot of trouble for us lately."

Axl snorts, amused despite himself. "I'm not a hero," he replies. "Just an old Maverick Hunter trying to do the right thing."

"Maverick Hunters," Phantom repeats, tone derisive, then shakes his head. "An old legend, from an even older generation. And some legends are meant to be lost."

"Well, I guess we're just going to have to agree to disagree," Axl replies, leveling his pistol at the Guardian.

Phantom smirks at him, and falls into a battle stance. "You cannot hope to defeat me," he says, arrogance oozing from every word. "I am one of Master X's most trusted warriors!"

"I dunno," Axl replies, tone casual to the point of being almost insulting, "my track record against Neo Arcadia's Guardians is pretty good so far. Just ask your brothers," he adds with a sharp grin.

Phantom's mouth turns down into a fierce scowl and he flings his shuriken at Axl with a hissed curse, apparently abandoning their pre-battle banter in favor of getting down to business.

Axl vaults backwards and shoots at the shuriken to throw off its trajectory, then refocuses his shots at Phantom himself.

The other Reploid proves to be a crafty opponent, though, with a whole slew of interesting abilities that make actually landing a hit something of a challenge. Axl doesn't know how he does it, but Phantom is able to melt into and out of shadowy spaces like something out of a fantasy-horror story; he's also is able to create holographic projections of himself that look so real that Axl ends up shooting the fakes instead of the real one more times than he can count.

Then his opponent trades in his massive shuriken for a wickedly sharp katana blade and Axl is forced to draw on all his close combat skills to avoid being sliced into scrap metal.

"Hold still," Phantom hisses when Axl narrowly avoids a strike that would have cleaved him right in half.

"Yeah, sure," Axl drawls sarcastically, "whatever you say." He retaliates with a flurry of energy shots that send Phantom diving for a patch of darkness that swallows him up.

Axl takes advantage of the momentary respite to rapidly concoct a plan of attack; it'll be hard to bring Phantom down, especially with him wielding that sword, but Axl has years of sparring against Zero to draw on for inspiration. He's confident that he can work something out.

Phantom reappears to Axl's immediate left, slashing out with his sword at an angle that brings the blade down right towards Axl's head. Axl leans back just far enough for the strike to narrowly miss him, and then unleashes a Volt Tornado using the DNA data from Tornado Tonion that he has cataloged within him; thanks to Phantom's close proximity (an inevitable weakness in the other's attack pattern, given his use of a close combat weapon like a sword), the attack is very successful.

The electrified vortex swirls through the air and slams into Phantom with a thunderous crackle, sending the other Reploid soaring through the air to crash into one of the back-up generators, which then implodes from the pact and begins spewing out smoke as Phantom struggles to get back on his feet.

"Stay down," Axl advises.

Phantom sneers at him, staggering upright. "I will not fail here," he pants, sword trembling in his grip.

"Phantom, it's over," Axl says.

"Not quite," Phantom retorts, a furious sort of satisfaction rising in his eyes. "You may have defeated me, but this factory is still doomed."

Trepidation flickers in Axl's gut. "Explain yourself," he demands, leveling his pistol at his enemy once more.

Phantom gives a jagged laugh. "The bombs I set all over the factory will explode any minute now," he says. "This factory will be blown to pieces, and you and your rebels along with it!" Then, without warning, he activates an emergency escape beacon of some sort, teleporting himself out of the factory between one moment and the next.

Axl curses under his breath and opens up a communication line to Ciel. "I have a problem," he tells her without preamble. "A saboteur got into the factory and planted bombs; can you do a scan to locate them while I evacuate the workers?"

A moment of strained silence during which Axl can almost feel Ciel's alarm, then, "Y-yes, of course, I can patch into the factory's systems and do a sweep for foreign energy signatures. I'll get started right away and let you know what I find."

"Thanks,"Axl says, and then gets to work on hauling the unconscious factory workers out of the building to safety.

"Okay, I think I've pinpointed the locations of the bombs," Ciel says.

"Good timing," Axl replies, carefully setting down the last factory worker on the ground beside his comrades. "I just finished evacuating everyone." He heads back into the building. "Where should I start?"

"My scan picked up eight foreign energy signatures," Ciel replies. "They seem to be scattered throughout the facility, with two explosives on each floor." A pause, then, "I can reprogram the generators from here and have them emit an energy pulse that will slow the countdown, but you'll still need to hurry if you want to disable the bombs in time to save the factory."

"Copy that," Axl replies. "I'll get to work on finding the bombs and disarming them; I'll contact you when I'm done."

"Okay," Ciel says, sounding worried. "Please be careful," she adds. "The Resistance can't afford to lose you."

Axl has no idea how to respond to that. "I'll contact you when I'm done," he repeats, for lack of anything else to say. He can't promise that he'll be fine because he honestly can't guarantee that; he's good, but all it takes is one wrong move to send everything careening out of control.

Ciel, at least, seems to take his words as a reassurance of some sort. "I look forward to hearing from you," she says, and then the communication line goes silent as she disconnects.

Axl spends the next five minutes hurtling through the factory at full-tilt speed, vaulting over desks and sidestepping workstations as he hurries to locate the bombs and put them out of commission. He manages to deactivate all of them, disarming the final bomb (tucked away in a maintenance closet on the top floor) with seconds to spare.

He takes a second to verify that it's well and truly disabled, then slumps to the ground with a heavy sigh. "That was… _way_ too close," he mumbles, exhaustion settling into his limbs as he sits there and stares blankly at the disabled bomb.

Finally, once the buzz of alarm from a narrowly averted disaster fades, he calls Ciel back. "I took care of the bombs," he tells her, levering himself upright and heading back downstairs. "I'm going to round up the workers and bring them back to the base for now, so they can get medical treatment before they return to work."

"Good idea," Ciel replies. "I'll dispatch a team of soldiers to secure the facility and keep it safe until we decide how to proceed with resuming operations there."

"Sounds like a plan," Axl agrees. "Let me finish up here and then we can talk about it some more when I get back."

"Okay," Ciel says, and that's that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so! This chapter ended up being a bit on the shorter side compared to some previous chapters, but I honestly couldn't make it drag on any longer without making it feel forced so…yeah. XD Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! See you soon!


	14. Chapter 14: Stop the Hacking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, my friends! I hope you're all doing well! Thanks as always for your fabulous comments on the previous chapter; your feedback is always a complete treasure to me. That being said, I'm still in the process of replying to all the lovely feedback (work is still super exhausting lately, plus I may have gotten a little sidetracked by replaying some old video games ^_^;), so if I haven't responded to anyone's comments yet, it's nothing personal, I just haven't had the time yet. <3
> 
> Also, just FYI, I made a small change to something basic in this chapter: in the original 'Stop the Hacking' mission from the game, the goal was to break into a hidden base to stop the hacking. But when I was reading over the game script again I realized that this hidden base was (according to one of Ciel's lines) underneath the desert. My immediate reaction was 'Oh no, I can't send Axl into the desert again, that's too mean'. So I switched it to a base hidden within a mountain range instead. Not important in the grand scheme of things, but I figured I'd clarify the change in advance just in case. ;D
> 
> Anyway, enjoy the chapter! I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks. ;)

**Chapter 14: Stop the Hacking**

* * *

"The main server of the Resistance Base has recently become the target of several malicious hacking attempts," Ciel tells him a few days after his return from securing (or rather, _re_ -securing) the energy factory. "We've managed to trace the most recent attempt back to Neo Arcadia, so presumably all of the attacks have been their doing."

"Well, that sounds…terrible," Axl replies, because it does; if Neo Arcadia manages to breach the Resistance's digital security and get access to their main server, it will compromise _everything_ they've been doing.

Ciel nods, looking distressed. "Thanks to our trace, we know that the hacking efforts are originating from a base hidden within a mountain range to the north of here. If we don't do something about this soon," she goes on, "it could end up causing us lots of problems down the road. Do you…" She hesitates, and takes a deep breath before continuing. "I know you mentioned once before that you have some skill when it comes to infiltration. Is it possible for you to sneak into their base and disable the computer systems that they're using to hack us?"

Axl gives a crooked grin. "Yeah," he says, mind already jumping ahead to the logistics of gaining entry into a hidden mountain base. "I can absolutely do that."

* * *

Axl manages to locate the base itself without too much trouble thanks to Ciel's trace, which allows him to backtrack the signal right to the base's supposedly 'hidden' location. Getting _into_ the base proves to be a little bit more of a challenge, though, and after a careful assessment of the facility's security measures he's forced to conclude that the most efficient way to gain entry is copying the DNA data of a Pantheon and assuming their appearance.

It's not an ideal solution in any way, shape, or form, because even just the _thought_ of masquerading as a Pantheon makes him deeply uncomfortable, but he can't deny that it's the best option from a perspective of practicality.

And since he's never been one to shy away from pragmatism even when it's unpleasant for him personally, he follows through with it.

He disables one of the Pantheons patrolling the base perimeter and takes a sample of their DNA data with a charged Copy Shot, then focuses on using that data to alter his own form into a perfect duplicate of the enemy.

He knows objectively that his copied appearance is flawless (after all, he's honed his Copy ability his entire life to the extent that shifting shapes at this point is almost as easy as breathing), but he can't seem to shake the sensation of pins and needles that prickles along his limbs; he can't explain it rationally (particularly since the problem could very well be his own mental hang-ups, which would mean that there _isn't_ a rational explanation) but wearing the Pantheon's shape doesn't feel _right_.

He can't pinpoint the problem, but there's no denying the discomfort. It's not just that his copy target is Neo Arcadian, either; he's copied _other_ Neo Arcadian soldiers since awakening from stasis and he hadn't felt this way when wearing their appearances.

It's just the Pantheon form that's making him feel so unsettled; he has a hunch that it's something to do with how the Pantheons are loosely designed to resemble X. Axl hadn't understood why they looked like X when he'd first seen them, but knowing what he knows now about Copy X has helped shine a little light on that particular mystery.

It doesn't make it any more palatable, but at least now he understands _why_ the Pantheons look the way they do; Copy X, thinking himself a perfect replica of the original X, had in turn crafted his primary foot-soldiers in his own image, based on his design.

Given all of that, he figures it's no surprise that mimicking the form of a Pantheon is making him uncomfortable. Still, he has to get his head in the game and not let his personal issues interfere with his concentration if he wants to succeed on his mission, so he very deliberately sets aside his discomfort and focuses all of his attention back on his current objective: find the computers being used to hack the Resistance server and destroy them.

So he wears the Pantheon's shape, using it to pass through the security checkpoints at the base entrance without any problems; from there, it's a simple matter of wandering through the base until he stumbles onto the computer room from which the hacking attempt had originated.

It takes him about fifteen minutes to find the right room, but once he locates the offending computers it's a simple enough matter to disable them: he shifts back to his normal form (an immense relief in and of itself, separate from the relief of accomplishing a mission goal) and unloads a full clip of energy shots into the mainframe computer that serves at the network hub for the entire facility.

Without the centralized mainframe to process and manage data, the other computers sputter to a stop, their programming faltering in the absence of guidance from the mainframe.

In his honest opinion, though, it's better to err on the side of caution when it comes to an enemy hacking into the Resistance's network, so he destroys those other computers, too, just to be on the safe side.

A communication line opens suddenly, Ciel's voice filtering through his comms. "Great job, Axl," she says. "Whatever you just did worked; their hacking attempts have ceased completely."

"Great," he replies. "In that case, I'm going to get out of here and head back to base."

"Understood," Ciel answers. "We're looking forward to your return. I-" She cuts herself off suddenly with an exclamation of alarm.

"What's wrong?" Axl asks, worry spiking in his chest. "Ciel?"

"My scanners are picking up a sudden surge of energy in the area around you," she says, sounding worried. "I can't be certain without further analysis, but it looks like a powerful Reploid just teleported to a location nearby." She sucks in a sharp breath. "The energy signature is headed straight for you. Please be careful!"

"I'll try," he promises, because that's all he can offer to reassure her. "Going radio silent for now," he adds. "I'll contact you once the situation is resolved."

"...Okay," Ciel says, her voice very soft before the transmission cuts out entirely.

"Well, hello, hello," a feminine voice says just a few seconds later, the tone flirty on the surface but sharp underneath. Then the owner of the voice steps through the doorway, and Axl takes a moment to assess her.

"...You must be Leviathan," Axl says, taking note of her blue armor and the wickedly sharp pole-arm she's holding that seems to be a cross between a lance and a glaive.

She gives him a surprised look that morphs into a pleased smirk. "My reputation precedes me, I see."

Axl chuckles despite himself. "Something like that," he acknowledges. "Blizzack Stagroff mentioned you, and, well…I've already fought your three brothers, haven't I? You're the only Guardian left that I haven't met in person, so it stands to reason that you'd be the one sent to try and take me down next."

Leviathan gives a delicate sniff that's entirely at odds with her warrior demeanor. "Perhaps we were simply saving the best for last," she says sweetly, blue eyes frigid as she gives him a once-over that's transparently an assessment of his combat capabilities.

"Perhaps," he echoes wryly, neither agreeing with or denying her statement because he hasn't made it this long by being an idiot; after all, you don't tell a woman, Reploid or human, that she's not particularly special and then live to talk about it. So he deftly sidesteps the opening to compare her to her brothers (which would be comparing apple to oranges, anyway, since it's becoming increasingly obvious that despite their innate similarities each of the Guardians is very much their own person) and tries to distract her instead. "What's your title, if you don't mind me asking? I know that you're a Guardian, but Stagroff mentioned that you're in charge of the…what was it, the Deep Sea Squadron?"

Something like pride flickers in Leviathan's gaze, even as her grip on her lance tightens. "Yes," she replies, and Axl gets the distinct impression of hidden depths with her, like a glacier that's small and innocuous on the surface but with a whole mountain of jagged ice hiding beneath the surface of the water. "I'm in charge of Neo Arcadia's navy. As for my title," she goes on, "I have two. Some call me Fairy Leviathan, on account of my delicate appearance. Others call me the Siren General." She gives a smile so sharp that Axl's vaguely surprised to not see shark teeth between her lips.

"...Siren General seems to suit you better," Axl remarks, remembering the old human stories about mysterious females who would lure sailors to their doom with sweet songs and then tear them to pieces beneath the churning waves.

After all, Leviathan might _look_ delicate at first glance, but Axl of all people knows better than to judge by appearances; it's obvious to anyone who looks closely enough that Leviathan is just as skilled as her brothers. The way she holds her weapon telegraphs a familiarity with it that comes from long use, and for all her little half-flirtatious smiles he senses nothing from her but determination and wary excitement for the fight that's about to begin.

She's clearly going to be a formidable opponent, and he's hardly going to discount that just because she's a girl. A capable warrior is a capable warrior regardless of gender, and forgetting that is a good way to get himself killed.

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Leviathan says now, although Axl can tell she's pleased by his comment. "My mission is to eliminate you, and that's what I'm gong to do." Her smile turns sharply amused. "I can't to see what the others have to say when I return with the news that I'm the one who finally terminated you. Now," she spins her glaive and slams it into the floor, blasting the ground out from underneath them and dropping them into a subterranean cavern of some kind that's almost entirely full of water, "let's begin!"

It's been quite a long time since Axl's gone swimming, much less been dropped without warning into a deep body of freezing water, so there's a long moment of visceral panic where he flails and sputters, but he manages to recover his equilibrium and fire off a quick series of energy shots before Leviathan can get too close with her lance.

"Don't hold back just because I'm a woman," Leviathan warns him, thrusting her spear at him in a fluid motion that sends shock-waves ripping through the water. "Give me your best!"

Axl uses his hover jets to propel himself backwards (since his backstroke is subpar at best), avoiding the blow. "Oh, don't worry," he assures her, struggling not to swallow a mouthful of water as he speaks. "That's not going to be a problem." Because while he's been trying hard to emulate X and show mercy when he can, holding back during combat doesn't come naturally to him; he's very much a 'remove the immediate threat' sort of person, with mercy coming into play later if the option is still available once the dust has settled.

This battle, however…it's going to be difficult, even without factoring in the fact that he doesn't want to kill his opponent. He's not designed for aquatic combat by any stretch of the imagination, and it's rapidly becoming obvious that Leviathan, in contrast, very much _is_. She moves through the water so quickly and with such grace that it's all Axl can do to keep up with her and block her strikes.

He doesn't have any DNA data that could help him in this situation, either; Splash Warfly's form would be _perfect_ , but his relationship with his old Red Alert comrade could have been described as 'fraught with tension' at the best of times.

Because Splash had never liked Axl, and Axl had never liked Splash. Consequently, Axl had never copied the other Reploid's DNA data in full; the closest he'd come was taking the tiniest sample possible after defeating him that final time, and even then he'd only done it in order to develop the Splash Laser.

He doesn't have any other aquatic combat forms he can shift to, either; it feels like a glaring oversight, for him to not have _any_ DNA data he can draw on to assist him in a watery environment, but he files away the aggravation for a later date.

He has to concentrate on the here and now, and focus on surviving this battle. Everything else can wait.

He manages to dodge most of Leviathan's strikes and deal a little damage of his own, firing off burst after burst of energy shots that sizzle through the water; one such flurry of shots manages to strike one of her dorsal jets, impacting her ability to maneuver which in turn gives Axl a little breathing room (well, metaphorically speaking, at least; given that they're fighting a battle that's predominately underwater there's not a lot of _literal_ breathing room).

Of course, then Leviathan starts flinging shards of ice around, her halberd glowing blue as she flings ice spears at him almost too fast to track, and Axl has to start playing defense again, focusing on deflecting the incoming attacks so he doesn't get skewered on an icicle.

Finally, as his frustration mounts, he lets loose a brief burst of Volt Tornado, sending electricity crackling through the water in a violent surge; the amplified charge stuns Leviathan, and she floats in place for one critical moment, expression contorted with pain as Axl uses his jets to position himself directly behind her.

He feels vaguely guilty for shooting her in the back, but he's a pragmatist at heart and the Resistance is relying on him too much for him to risk losing a battle because of something like old-fashioned chivalry.

So he shoots her with several fully charged energy shots, and then drags her to the surface as her body goes limp and her grip on her lance slackens.

Leviathan regains consciousness a moment later, looking horrified that he hasn't finished her off once and for all. "Why didn't you terminate me," she demands, looking shaken and furious by turns. "First my brothers, now me…what sort of fighter are you, sparing the lives of your enemies?" She shoves at him, and because she seems to have recovered enough to float on her own he lets her go. "I told you not to hold back in our fight," she snaps, eyes almost glowing with anger and hurt.

"I _didn't_ hold back in our fight," Axl retorts. "Not killing you is _not_ the same thing as handicapping myself, why don't you Guardians understand that?" He shakes his head, too tired and frustrated to even want to try to explain the concept of mercy to a Guardian of Neo Arcadia; it's becoming readily apparent that it's not a value that Copy X has tried to teach his generals, assuming that he's even familiar with it himself (something Axl rather doubts, given what he's seen of how Neo Arcadia operates these days).

Leviathan scowls at him, confusion twisting her features at she glares at him. "Well…the next time we meet, you had better give me your best!" she declares, and then there's a surge of energy and a bright flash of light as she teleports out of the cavern, leaving him floating aimlessly in the water all by himself.

He grumbles under his breath as he swims to the closest rock outcropping and hauls himself out of the water, rivulets of moisture dripping off of his armor as his hair flops into his face. "What an exciting day _this_ turned out to be…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, full disclosure: I had a harder time with this chapter, because writing Leviathan was a bit of a struggle at first; we don't see a lot of her in the games, so I had to kind of adjust her character according to what I personally think is nifty. XD
> 
> Also, there's a sort of low-key buzz of anxiety gripping me as I write these latest chapters because GUYS. We are closing in on the end of this story arc; just a couple more chapters and Axl will be heading off to confront Copy X. Yes, there's another story arc after that (relating to Weil and Omega and all of that), but I know that the anticipation of Axl's fight with Copy X (and some revelations that will accompany that sojourn into Neo Arcadia) is a lot of why we're all here so I'm VERY nervous now because every time I sit down to write that upcoming milestone is just sort of …looming, lol. XD
> 
> Oh, and to clarify the bit about Leviathan's title: I know in the English version of the game her name is Fairy Leviathan, but in the original Japanese version of the game her name Youshou Leviathan means (according to my research) something closer to Siren General, which in my honest opinion suits her character so much better given her aquatic theme.


	15. Chapter 15: The Invasion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, my friends! Thank you once again to everyone for reading this story and coming on this wonderful adventure with me (and with Axl, haha). The feedback on the last chapter was, as always, so amazing; you're all so kind and supportive, it's just absolutely spectacular.
> 
> Anyway, as I've mentioned a couple of times in feedback responses, things are (as you've probably noticed) definitely ramping up in the story lately; we've fought all the Guardians, which means that pretty soon we'll be off to Neo Arcadia itself! But…not yet, lol. ;D
> 
> That being said, this chapter (Chapter 15) is the last chapter before Axl sets out for Neo Arcadia to confront Copy X (something that is going to be a multi-chapter ordeal, so maybe, uh…brace yourselves? XD) so we're closing in on the end of the first story arc. Of course, we still have the second half of the story after that (with Weil and the Dark Elf and everything) so things are far from over, but still. We are rapidly approaching the Axl vs Copy X confrontation that helped to inspire this whole AU, so I hope you guys are as excited as I am. ;D

**Chapter 15: The Invasion**

* * *

Axl gets just over forty-eight hours of downtime after his fight with Leviathan before it all goes to hell in a handbasket again. This time, he's in the process of stripping and cleaning his pistol when the alarm starts blaring, and he quickly reassembles his weapon and makes his way to the command center to find out what's going wrong _now_.

"Enemy troops are attacking our base," Ciel tells him the moment he steps foot into the room, not even bothering with greetings. Her hair has come loose from its usual ponytail, giving her a disheveled appearance that underscores her barely-contained panic. "Our defense forces are doing their best to forestall the assault, but our shield generator is moments away from failing. I don't think we have the resources necessary to push them back much longer. At this rate, the main gate will be destroyed within fifteen minutes, and from there the Neo Arcadian forces will invade our headquarters completely." She swallows hard, expression bleak at she looks around at the rest of the command staff before her gaze returns to rest on Axl. "…We need to evacuate the base," she says, voice cracking.

The words take one long, terrible moment to process, but once he finally wraps his stunned mind around what she's saying he curses in frustration because they've come so far and done so much and this isn't fair. They've been making real tangible progress in their fight against Neo Arcadia and it's not right for all of their work to go up in flames like this.

He can't argue with Ciel's assessment of their capabilities, though; the Resistance fighters, while brave and dedicated, are for the most part not actually soldiers. They're Reploids and humans who had been ordinary citizens before crossing Copy X; what little combat experience they have has come primarily from having no other choice than to defend themselves. And while fighting to survive is undoubtedly a good source of experience, it's still not the same as a lifetime spent on the battlefield fighting two consecutive wars.

If there really is a horde of Neo Arcadian soldiers battering down their front door, it's only a matter of time before they get in, and nothing Axl or Ciel does is going to change that, not if their enemy is truly serious about this assault. It was a minor miracle that they'd thwarted the last attack on their base; Neo Arcadia won't allow failure a second time, not after all the trouble Axl has caused for them over the last several months.

"We need to evacuate the base," he agrees, the words tasting like ash in his mouth as something like despair creeps into his chest, matched in intensity only by the fury that's rising within him.

"Begin the evacuation immediately," Ciel announces, raising her voice to speak to the room at large. "We'll prioritize the young and the elderly, make sure they escape to safety first. Rouge, Jean," she goes on, addressing the Resistance operators, "please begin facilitating the boarding process for the evacuation shuttles. Milan, take Colbor and gather up all the non-combatants for evacuation; grab Andrew, Alouette, everyone. Cerveau," she continues, addressing the engineer, "I want you on an escape shuttle as well; gather together whatever research you think is most important and take it with you."

"What about you?" Cerveau asks. "You're the most brilliant scientist the Resistance has, Ciel, you have to leave, too."

"No," Ciel says, shaking her head. "I'm staying here; I won't leave until everyone else is safe." Her expression shades towards resigned. "This whole mess is my fault, anyway," she adds, clearly thinking of Copy X's genesis and her role in it. "it's only right that I stay behind."

The room erupt into a cacophony of protests. "Ciel-"

"No one is staying behind," Axl says stridently, his uncharacteristically sharp tone cutting through the chatter like a blade through tissue paper. "Ciel, you go with Cerveau; you're too important to the Resistance to die here."

"But I-"

"This really isn't up for debate," Axl says, gentle but firm. "You're the leader of the Resistance, Ciel. You _have_ to live. So get to your evacuation shuttle. Take Totten with you," he adds. "I don't want him in the middle of all this. Meanwhile, I'll do what I can to stall the enemy," he goes on, "and give everyone time to get to safety. But you'll need to hurry," he adds. "I'm good, but I can't stall them forever."

(He very deliberately doesn't say that he'll stall them as long as he's still breathing and that he has no intention of falling back from the fight until every single non-combatant has made it to safety, because as much as he loathes the concept of martyrdom he's more than willing to trade his own life for the lives of the other Resistance members.

Not that he has any intention of dying today; no, he'll fight like hell to both protect the people he cares about and live to tell about it. But if it comes down to it, if he's forced to choose between himself and the innocent lives he's been fighting to protect…

Well, his life seems like a pretty good trade in exchange for their safety, all things considered.

He doesn't say any of that aloud, though, since it will only serve to make everyone more anxious than they already are.

He thinks that Ciel understands what he's not saying anyway, if the look of sorrow in her eyes is any indication.)

"Alright, you have your assigned tasks, get to work," Ciel shouts at last, sending everyone scrambling into motion. "Start the evacuation!"

Axl takes a moment to memorize the faces around him, to give himself something to think about when things inevitably go even more pear-shaped later, and then strides from the command center towards the front entrance where the Neo Arcadian troops are trying to break in.

_This is going to be a long day_ , he thinks, and draws his pistol.

* * *

Axl makes his way to the front of the base and devotes himself to the endless push and pull of battle, felling Pantheon after Pantheon as they throw themselves at the entrance in an attempt to breach the blast doors.

After about an hour of constant fighting, the tide of enemies ebbs a bit, allowing Axl to take a breather while five other Resistance gunners take up positions nearby to cover his break.

His respite is short-lived, however; a red-headed female soldier runs up to him with a sense of urgency radiating from her, a charred blaster rifle held in her hands.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but we need you in the engine room," she says. "It's been overrun with enemies who gained entry through a service shaft, and without regaining control of it we can't proceed with the evacuation of the upper levels of the base; the generators there power the elevators, and if we don't get them running again-"

"Everyone on those floors will be trapped," Axl finishes for her, because the emergency stairwells have already collapsed from the assault on the base. "Alright, I'll head there immediately."

"Thank you, sir," she says, sketching out a quick salute before she turns and hurtles off in the opposite direction, presumably to continue relaying messages through the ranks.

Axl takes a moment to tell the other gunners where he's going, and then it's off to the engine room for him. He sees evidence of where the invading soldiers had passed through, blaster marks along the walls and bodies on the floor, and redoubles his pace until he reaches his destination.

Clearing the engine room of the Pantheons who have taken control of it is a straightforward enough matter: he simply shoots and keeps shooting until they've all been eliminated. Once he's all alone in the engine room, he hurries over to the generators that power the elevators and switches them back on; hopefully with power restored to that part of the base, the lat few evacuees in the upper levels can get to their transports safely.

His comms crackle to life suddenly, and the voice of the red-headed fighter from before filters through. "Axl, sir, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here," he responds, vaguely surprised that the connection is so clear; their communications systems had gone down about twenty minutes after the first attack, taken out by some sort of frequency jammer. He sends a silent thank you to whatever Resistance squadron is responsible for taking that jammer offline. "What's wrong?"

"Well, the elevators are up and running again thanks to you, but now we have a problem with the warehouse where we store our Energy Crystals. It seems like the enemy commander in charge of the attack force has gotten inside, along with a small cohort of enemy soldiers."

Axl scowls, because that warehouse is technically separate from the base itself, connected only by a tunnel that was used for shipping freight back and forth. It strikes him as strange that the enemy commander would go there when their assault force's primary goal is clearly to destroy the main Resistance base. "The warehouse?" he repeats. "What could they possibly want there?"

"We aren't sure. We suspect that they're attempting to either take our Energy Crystals for themselves or simply destroy them so we can't reclaim them. Either way," the soldier continues, "if we lose those Energy Crystals it will be a serious blow to our efforts. Someone has to get in there and stop them from occupying that warehouse so that we can move those Energy Crystals to a more secure location."

"Let me guess," Axl says dryly, "that someone is me."

"You are the most qualified combatant, sir," the soldier says, sounding apologetic. "I can see if any other fighters can be spared from other areas, but…"

"No, it's fine," Axl says, already heading for the tunnel that will take him to the warehouse. "I'll take care of it."

"Thank you, sir," she replies, then, "I'll contact you with any further developments."

"Understood," Axl says, then closes the communication line so he can concentrate.

It takes him about half an hour to get to the warehouse; the trek should have gone faster, but he has to fight through pockets of enemy soldiers as he makes his way first through the Resistance base and then through the transport tunnel leading to the warehouse itself, which slows his progress considerably.

He eventually makes it to the warehouse, though, and he's greeted by a massive monkey-themed Reploid upon his arrival.

"Well, well, well, you've finally arrived," the Reploid says, twirling a long staff as his bright eyes track Axl's movements as he steps into the room. "I've heard a lot about you, the hero of the Resistance!" He levels his staff at Axl, the flame at the end of his sapian tail flaring. "Or should I say, the old and outdated scrap heap that doesn't know when to quit?"

Axl snorts. "You can call me whatever you want," he replies, unflustered by the insults; he's heard worse. "I'm still going to be the one who brings you down."

"On the contrary," the Reploid counters, " _I_ , Hanumachine, will be the one to bring _you_ down, and in doing so bring glory to Guardian Phantom and the Stealth Unit!"

"...I think we'll have to agree to disagree," Axl quips, and starts shooting.

What follows next is simultaneously a relatively short fight and also one of the most brutal fights Axl has experienced since waking up in the future. Hanumachine is economical in his movements, fast and agile with no energy wasted on frivolous techniques or excessive showiness; every move he makes is geared towards one purpose: defeating Axl. Hanumachine also has a slew of special abilities at his disposal, which is both impressive and aggravating. One second Axl will be blocking an attack from his enemy's reinforced staff, the next he'll be hastily diving to the side to avoid taking a fireball to the face; Axl would almost be tempted to compliment his opponent on his skills if there wasn't so much at stake.

As it stands, however, it takes all of his concentration and craftiness to counter Hanumachine's attacks and come up with a strategy to defeat him.

In the end, it takes five boomerangs pulled from Crowrang's DNA data, two missiles pulled from Snipe Anteater's DNA data, one Volt Tornado pulled from Tornado Tonion's DNA data, and a series of shots with the Splash Laser he'd crafted from Warfly's DNA data to finally bring Hanumachine down.

"Un…believable," Hanumachine gasps, looking disgusted. "To lose to a relic such as you…" Then his eyes go dark and the flame in his tail blows out, his body crumpling forward onto the ground and not moving.

Axl is sorely tempted to collapse on the ground right there beside his fallen enemy because he aches all over and his armor is covered in scorch marks from the fight, but there's a job to do and he can't afford to rest yet.

He opens his communication line back up as he starts off back down the tunnel towards the main base. "I've secured the warehouse," he announces, climbing over a pile of rubble that he doesn't remember seeing earlier. "We need a team down here immediately to secure the E-Crystals and transport them to the evacuation site."

"Copy that," someone responds. "A team will be down momentarily."

"Great," he says, then, "What's the status of the evacuation?"

"All command personnel have been evacuated without incident, with the exception of yourself, of course. Likewise, all the science teams have been evacuated, as have the young and the elderly. We have also begun transmitting orders to our defense teams to pull back and evacuate the base as well. Once the E-Crystals are secured and removed, all Resistance forces will be gone from the area."

"Excellent," he says. "Send the order for the final retreat, and we'll all rendezvous at the predetermined evacuation site."

"Yes, sir. See you soon, sir."

"See you soon," he echoes, and then focuses on hauling ass out of the battered Resistance base before it collapses down on top of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So…that happened! Next up we have the start of the multi-chapter affair that is Axl going to Neo Arcadia to confront Copy X directly. Included in this will be some answers to the question "Where are X and Zero?" ;D.
> 
> Also, can I just take a moment to note that the mythology nerd in me geeked out majorly over Hanumachine, simply because his design is based on the Hindu god Hanuman. Honestly, some of the basis of the designs for the Mutos Reploids are just A+. I never got the connections/inspirations for them as a kid, but as an adult I am tickled to death by it. :)
> 
> Anyway, I hope you're all staying safe and doing well these days! See you next week!


	16. Chapter 16: To Neo Arcadia (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, my friends! Thank you as always for the fabulous feedback on the previous chapter; you guys are awesome!
> 
> Anyway, this chapter is the first of what will be about three chapters dedicated to Axl's assault on Neo Arcadia, which culminates in his battle against Copy X. With that in mind, I don't have much to say right now other than: buckle up!

**Chapter 16: To Neo Arcadia (Part 1)**

* * *

The site that the Resistance has evacuated to is rundown in the extreme, an old recycling plant that had been abandoned and falling into disrepair before they'd found it and begun refurbishing it as a back-up base in the event of a disaster at their main location.

None of them, Axl included, had ever thought that they'd actually be forced to leave their primary base and move to this one, and it's plain to see from the discouraged expressions on everyone's faces that being attacked and forced to evacuate is a serious blow to morale.

The first two days at their new makeshift base are spent cataloging their losses, helping the wounded, and scrambling to get a functional command center up and running out of the recycling plant's old management offices.

It's not a great two days.

Eventually, they manage to get the facility's power back online, which in turn helps them get the computer systems to something approaching functional; it's a far cry from the more sophisticated equipment they'd possessed at their old base, but it's a start.

On the third day, Axl goes to find Ciel.

"Hey," he says, finding her buried elbow-deep in one of the generators as she tries to increase its output, "can I talk to you for a minute?"

Ciel gives him an exhausted smile and extricates herself from the machinery. "Yes, of course," she replies, reaching for a rag to wipe the grease from her fingers. "What do you need?"

Axl guides her away from the generator, leading her away from the prying ears of the other workers in the room because he's not sure how this conversation is going to impact the situation moving forward and he wants to avoid any potential gossip until he's certain of how things are going to shake out. "I need what all of us need," he tells her once they're tucked away in a quiet corner, "for Neo Arcadia to stop what it's doing."

Ciel's smile turns brittle and drops from her face, expression morphing into sadness touched with resignation. "I know," she says, her voice so soft that he can barely hear her speak. "But that's impossible. As long as Copy X is in charge of Neo Arcadia, this will never stop."

"...I know," he replies, an echo of her words a second before. He takes a deep breath before continuing, steeling his resolve. "Which is why Copy X needs to be dealt with directly."

Ciel 's breath catches in her throat, just the hint of a gasp. "Axl…"

"It's true," he says gently. "You know it's true."

She hesitates, then nods. "We can never have peace as long as Copy X lives," she acknowledges, even as her eyes shine with guilt and grief. "But Axl…I can't ask you to go fight him, not when I know how hard it will be for you. Not when I know how _dangerous_ it will be for you." She shakes her head, tears spilling down her cheeks. "I can't ask you to do that."

"You're not asking," he tells her, "I'm volunteering." Then, before she can voice more objections, "This has to happen, Ciel, and I have to be the one to do it." Even ignoring the poetic justice of him being the one to confront Copy X, who's disgracing the memory of Axl's friend and mentor with his actions, there's no debating the simple fact that out of all the surviving Resistance fighters Axl is by far and away the most qualified to take Copy X on in a fight.

That doesn't mean that the battle will be anything other than downright unpleasant and exceedingly dangerous _at best_ , but he at least stands a better chance of defeating Copy X than the others.

(Whether he actually survives to see the aftermath of that victory is up in the air, because even a replica of X is going to be a formidable fighter without a doubt. And Axl's good, one of the best, but he's never had any illusions about who the strongest Maverick Hunter was at the end of the day. Given that, it's entirely possible that confronting Copy X is going result in a textbook case of mutually assured destruction.

It's not a happy thought, but it's not exactly a surprising one either, so he carefully sets it aside for the moment. Dwelling on it now isn't going to do anything but give him doubts, and doubt is one thing he can't afford to indulge in right now.)

Finally, after what feels like an impossibly long stretch of contemplative silence, Ciel speaks.

"…I don't want you to go to Neo Arcadia," she says at last, voice tight with suppressed emotion. "But I understand why you have to." She swallows hard, scrubbing at her face to wipe away the tear tracks on her cheeks. "It'll take me a few hours, but I should be able to put together a basic Trans Server that we can use to transport you to Neo Arcadia. I don't think I'll be able to bypass the security measures on the central core where Copy X resides," she adds, "but hopefully Rouge and Jean can come up with some coordinates that will get you close."

"Thanks," he says, reaching out to lightly squeeze her shoulder. "I really appreciate it."

Ciel gives him a shaky small, lips trembling. "No, Axl, thank you. For everything." She takes a deep breath. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd better get to work. That Trans Server isn't going to build itself." She slips past him out of the room and disappears down the hall towards where Cerveau has set up a makeshift science laboratory.

Which leaves Axl with a handful of hours to kill while he waits for Ciel to work her magic and build a teleportation device from scratch. He stands there for a moment, at a bit of a loss, and then realizes that now is probably a good time to make whatever farewells he needs to before it's too late.

He seeks out Colbor first and they talk for a little bit, after which he makes a quick detour to give Hibou some E-Crystals like he'd promised to do all those months ago. Then he stops in to visit Andrew and Alouette in the section of the facility that's been transformed into living quarters for the civilian members of the Resistance. Next, he spends over an hour with Totten, just talking and playing, before he explains to Totten that he's going to going away for a little while.

"I'm not sure when I'll be back," he tells his teenage Cyber Elf, trying to keep his voice level so that Totten doesn't get too upset. "So you're going to be staying with Ciel for a bit, okay?"

Totten just looks at him, bright eyes peering out at him from underneath the brim of his wizard's hat. "You're going after Copy X," he says, and it's not a question.

Axl huffs out a little laugh, because he should have known better than to try to hide anything from Totten; his little Cyber Elf is far too clever for that, and knows him too well. "Yeah, I am," he admits. "And it's going to be dangerous, probably more dangerous than anything else I've done for the Resistance so far." He takes a deep breath. "Which is why I need you to stay here with Ciel, where it's safe, okay?"

Totten's expression shifts into the stubborn look that Axl's grown all too familiar with. "But Axl-"

"Totten, I'm serious,"Axl says, cutting off whatever protests the Elf had been about to make. "I know that you want to help, and if this were literally _any_ other mission I would take you with me in a heartbeat. But this time, I need you to stay here. Copy X is dangerous," he goes on. "He wouldn't hesitate to destroy you if the opportunity presented itself, and I cannot stand the thought of anything happening to you. So…please. For my sake, will you stay with Ciel so that she can look after you?"

"...Fine," Totten replies, tone grudging and expression sulky in a way that highlights his adolescence. "But only until you get back!" he adds quickly, expression brightening. "After that, I'm going with you on your next mission and _nothing_ you say is going to stop me!"

Axl grins despite himself. "That sounds great, little buddy," he says, reaching out to tweak his friend's hat affectionately. "That sounds really great."

He goes to find Milan next.

"Hey, Axl," Milan says easily, looking up from the crate of supplies he's unpacking. "What's up?"

"Eh, not much. I'm heading out to Neo Arcadia soon, and just thought I'd say bye really quick."

Milan straightens, expression turning somber. "That's…you're serious?"

"Yeah, I'm leaving just as soon Ciel finishes up on the transporter she's building. So, given the givens, I think it's high time I returned this to you," Axl tells him, holding up the Buster so his friend can see it.

Milan gives him a blank look that quickly morphs into a look of confusion."...Why?"

"What do you mean, why?" Axl asks.

"I mean, why _now_?" Milan clarifies, brows drawing down into a faint frown as something like concern creeps into his gaze. "You've had my Buster for _months_ ; why are you so insist on giving it back right now?"

( _Right now, when you're about to leave_ , goes unspoken, but the implication is just as loud as if he'd shouted it.)

"Look," Axl says, speaking bluntly because he knows Milan well enough to not need to beat around the bush, "I think we all know that there's a chance I won't be coming back from this mission. And it _is_ your weapon in the first place. With that in mind," he offers up the Buster, "here."

There's a long moment of tense silence as Milan just looks at him, expression inscrutable as Axl continues to hold the Buster out towards him.

"Why don't you hang onto it for now," Milan says at last, clapping him on the shoulder before stepping away. "Get in a couple good shots on Copy X for me, and then give it back to me when you return so I can hang it on my wall as a trophy."

_(Live through the fight, and come back to us_ , Milan doesn't say, but Axl can read between the lines to the deeper meaning underneath his words.)

"...Alright," he replies, grip tightening on the Buster.

"Alright," Milan echoes, giving a ghost of a smile before he turns and walks away.

He watches Milan's retreating figure for a moment, then stares down at the Buster in his hand. He remembers the day Milan had first given it to him, in the ruins of the science facility where he'd been sleeping in stasis until Ciel had woken him up.

It feels like so long ago now, that day when he'd first met Ciel and Milan and been pulled into their conflict against Neo Arcadia.

And it makes him remember another day, from even longer ago.

* * *

" _Hey, Zero," Axl says once the scientists make their final adjustments to the equipment. "Can I ask you to do something for me?"_

_Zero's eyebrows drift upwards in a faint look of surprise but he buries it quickly enough. "Depends on the something, I guess. What's up?"_

_Axl opens his mouth, hesitates because he doesn't know how to put his request into words without it sounding childish. "…Try to be there," he manages at last. "When I wake up," he elaborates, noting Zero's vaguely perplexed expression. "Try to be there. Please?"_

_**I don't want to wake up alone** _ _, he doesn't say, but from the way Zero's expression softens ever so slightly into something understanding, he's pretty sure his friend hears it anyway._

" _We'll be there," Zero promises, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder. "And once you're awake, the three of us can run some missions together again, like the good old days."_

_Axl grins, trying to ignore the tangle of nervousness in his gut. "Like the good old days," he echoes, then nods. "Alright, that's decided, then. Good." He takes a deep breath. "I'm ready."_

* * *

He's pulled from his reminiscing by the sound of Ciel's voice.

"Axl?" She walks over to him, looking up into his face with a hopeful expression that's tinged with worry. "The Trans Server is ready; it will teleport you directly to an industrial region deep within Neo Arcadia, and from there you should be able to make your way to Copy X."

Axl takes a deep breath, a sort of pre-battle calm washing over him as he thinks about what lies ahead. "I'm ready," he tells her, and it feels like an echo of the past and a step forward into the future all at once.

"Are you sure?" she asks, reaching out to hesitantly lay a hand on his arm. "I know it must be difficult for you, the thought of fighting X. I just…"

Axl manages to muster up a smile for her. "It's going to be okay, Ciel," he tells her, not letting her see the turmoil that's curled in his chest; he's got it buried so deep he can barely see it himself. "I can handle _Copy_ X."

He thinks of the real X, who doesn't deserve to have his memory tarnished by the actions of the hateful imposter in Neo Arcadia, and he thinks of Zero, always fighting for a better future and all the while insisting that he wasn't a hero.

He thinks of his friends, and his resolve firms up, crystallizing into something with the hardness of an unbreakable diamond. "I'm going to finish this," he says quietly, determined. "Once and for all."

Ciel swallows hard, but nods. "Okay," she says. "Good luck."

"Thanks," he replies, and then he's off to Neo Arcadia.


	17. Chapter 17: To Neo Arcadia (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, everyone! I have so much I want to say here but I can't because *spoilers*. ;D
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter! I am REALLY looking forward to hearing what you guys think of what transpires in this chapter. :D
> 
> (Also, thanks as always for the fabulous feedback on the last couple chapters! I haven't gotten around to personally replying to all the comments yet, but I appreciate all the great feedback. <3)

**Chapter 17: To Neo Arcadia (Part 2)**

* * *

The Neo Arcadia that Axl gets transported to is vastly different from the one he remembers from his time.

Back then, it had been still been something of a patchwork affair, with much smaller buildings; most of the structures had been somewhat mismatched, everything somewhat hastily erected as people had continued to pour in, drawn in by the promise of peace that X offered with his dream of a utopia where everyone coexisted in harmony.

Now it's a colossal behemoth of a settlement, massive on a scale that reminds Axl of the world before the Elf Wars had ravaged the giant cities that had been heavily populated with both humans and Reploids.

It's huge now, a testament to the growth it's undergone in those intervening centuries, but Axl can't help but notice a different sort of atmosphere compared to the one he remembers. The Neo Arcadia he remembers had been hectic, but warm; things had been chaotic, all of them scrambling towards the distant goal of peace, but there had been an undeniable feeling of hopefulness that had permeated everything.

This Neo Arcadia feels cold, frigid and uncaring of those walking its streets and tunnels.

It makes something twit in his chest, bitter and mournful, to see the utopia X had tried to build twisted into such an unwelcoming place.

He shoves the feeling down, though, setting it aside so he can focus on his mission.

Axl manages to make it through three districts in Neo Arcadia without serious incident, bypassing their security measures through the generous use of his Copy Chip; he transforms into a Pantheon just long enough to make it through various security checkpoints and that's that.

At least until he starts to get deeper into Neo Arcadia; the closer he gets to the core of the place, the tighter the security gets, with better security measures and more prolific enemies. He quickly and quietly picks off the enemies with silenced energy shots from his pistol, but a set of sealed blast doors temporarily halts his assault.

"Let me see if I can get access to their security network," Ciel says when he contacts her for advice on how to proceed without doing something really dramatic like plant an explosive to get through. "If I tweak the programming I should be able to unlock the doors for you."

"If you can manage it, I'd be very grateful," Axl responds, because any other alternative for getting through those doors is going to be loud and messy and draw far too much attention.

Thankfully, Ciel manages to work her technological magic and hacks the Neo Arcadian security system to open the blast doors for him. "Alright, you should be able to proceed unhindered for a little while yet. You'll encounter another set of blast doors farther along your infiltration route, but I'll get to work on hacking those now; I should have them open by the time you get there."

"Thanks, Ciel, seriously. You're amazing."

"I'm just doing my part to help," she demurs, and then the line disconnects, leaving Axl with just the ambient noise of the Neo Arcadian hallways and tunnels for company.

Axl start running into more enemies the deeper he goes into the massive city complex, particularly since he's left the more residential areas and is now passing through what are clearly more militarized regions of the so-called utopia.

Five fights and seven disarmed alarms later, he reaches the second set of blast doors and passes through.

"You're doing great, Axl," Ciel says, the communication line reopening so she can give him a status update on his progress. "You're getting really close to the central core of Neo Arcadia; the inner sanctum where Copy X can be found will be easy to locate once you're in that central area."

"Great," Axl replies. "Closer is great. How close exactly?"

"Turn left at the next split," she tells him, "and you'll be at one of the entry points."

He does as instructed, then scowls. "Okay, I'm here, but there's a slight problem. There are energy shields preventing me from going any farther. Is there anything you can do?"

I'm not sure," Ciel says uncertainly. "Those force fields run on a separate subsystem that I've never tried to access before. I'll see what I can do, though," she adds.

"Alright," Axl says, content to let her work while he combs the surrounding area for enemies he can vent his frustration on; twenty-two Pantheons and one Golem later, he hears back.

"I can't hack it," Ciel says, frustration clear in her voice. "The security measures for that subsystem are too thorough; I can't get through to lower the shields and let you in to the central core. And without getting through there, you'll never reach the inner sanctum where Copy X resides."

Axl opens his mouth to tell her not to worry about it, that he'll find some other way in, when suddenly his comm-line crackles unexpectedly and a new voice speaks.

"I'll take care of the security measures," an all-too-familiar voice says. "My personal pass-codes were never removed from the system."

"Who is this?" Ciel demands, even as Axl chokes out a disbelieving, " _X?_ "

"Hey, Axl," the voice replies. "Stay where you are for a moment, we're disabling the security measures now."

Axl feels vaguely lightheaded. "We?"

"Axl, I don't understand," Ciel interjects. "Who-?"

"It's…I don't…" Axl shakes his head, because he can't explain what's happening himself. Doesn't even _understand_ what's happening. "What. The. Hell. Is going on," he manages to say at last.

"Axl, I'm sorry but there's isn't time to explain everything fully-"

"Make time," he demands, needing answers. "A partial explanation, at least! I mean, _come on_. How do I even know that I can trust this? That this isn't some trick? Or that I'm not just losing my mind?"

As if in response, a bright rectangle of light manifests a short distance away.

"There, we've made a doorway into Cyberspace for you," another voice declares, straightforward to the point of being blunt in a way that's all too familiar. "Step through and see for yourself."

It doesn't make any sense at all, for Axl to be hearing the voices of his dead friends. It certainly doesn't make any sense for those voices to be telling him to walk through a door into Cyberspace without explaining why.

If he were to look at the situation logically, he'd have to assume it was a trap. After all, he's a Resistance member blasting his way through the heart of Neo Arcadia on a mission to kill Copy X. Anything that makes him detour from that mission is suspicious by default.

And yet….

He can't shake the feeling that this isn't anything as simple as a trap.

(It's totally impossible, but Axl _wants_ to believe.)

"Ciel, I'm going radio silent for a few minutes," he says at last, because as suspicious as this whole thing is he can't _not_ go. "I'll reopen the comm-line once I'm back on task," he adds.

And then he steps through the door.

There's a moment, during the transition from the real world to Cyberspace, that gives him just enough time to worry that maybe he _has_ fallen into a trap, but then everything shifts and twists and he's stepping out into Cyberspace before he has time to reevaluate his decision.

And then Axl just _stares_ , unable to believe what he's seeing because it's too good to be true. "Zero?" he says, not at all ashamed of the way his voice cracks with emotion. "X?"

"Hello, Axl," X says with a tired but warm smile. "Long time no see."

"Took you long enough to get here," Zero tacks on, and while the words themselves might sound like a complaint his voice is unspeakably fond.

"Well, excuse me for being busy in the real world while you two chill out in cyberspace," he fires back with a grin, the retort coming out automatically before he sobers. "I don't… _how_?" He shakes his head, so far beyond confused that it's not even funny. There's no denying that it's X and Zero standing before him, but that's doesn't mean he _understands_ it. "How is this possible?"

"When X sacrificed his body to seal away the Dark Elf, he uploaded his consciousness to Cyberspace," Zero explains, crossing his arms and leaning against a pillar of data. "I suppose technically you could say he's a Cyber Elf, in a way. Cyber X," he adds with a faint smirk.

X rolls his eyes, looking torn between amusement and exasperation even as his mouth pulls up into a small, fond smile. "That joke got old fifty years ago," he says, lightly chiding. "Besides, the idea of preserving my consciousness would never have occurred to me if you hadn't done it first."

Zero seems to concede the point, inclining his head with a slight nod. "Fair."

"Wait, hold on a second, back up," Axl says, waving his hands in a universal gesture of _slow the hell down_. "So you uploaded your consciousness, too?" he asks Zero. "But…why?"

"It's a bit of a long story," Zero replies, tipping one shoulder in a shrug. "But let's just say that I took some damage that my replica body's repair systems couldn't handle. There wasn't time to build me another, so this was the best alternative. Then X joined me here, and we just…stayed."

Axl tries to wrap his mind around all of that and has to eventually throw up a white flag of surrender because _what even_. "I don't get it," he says, frustrated. "Even ignoring the fact that you were easily the strongest person I've ever met even _after_ you switched to a replica body…why stay here like this, all this time? Why not try to contact someone in the physical world, get new bodies made? I mean, Ciel made Copy X, for crying out loud! She could have easily made new bodies for you guys instead, if she'd known you were still alive!"

"It's not that simple, Axl," X says, his tone patient like they're back at Maverick Headquarters and he's explaining a particular plan of attack for an upcoming mission. "It takes a lot of energy for us to exist like this, energy that's not always easy to come by since we don't have physical bodies to rely on. We've had to be very careful to not expend too much power, or else there's a chance that we could disappear from existence completely."

"Besides," Zero puts in, "as you yourself just said, Ciel is the one who _made_ that psychotic duplicate of X. We weren't sure we could trust her completely, not until recently."

"…Okay," he says at last, once he's taken a moment to turn both those answers over in his mind and dissect them. "I…understand, I think. About the energy thing, at least, and why you didn't feel like you could approach Ciel." He jabs a finger first at X then at Zero. "But I will be expecting a _full_ explanation from you idiots sooner rather than later," he snaps, tone drifting towards demanding. "Starting with what happened after I went into stasis and ending with what the hell you've been doing for the last hundred years."

"We'll explain everything," X says, graciously letting the insult slide without comment even as Zero muffles a snicker, "I promise. But it will have to wait. Right now you have a mission to fulfill, correct?"

Axl's knee-jerk reaction is to argue because X and Zero are _here_ , right in front of him, and letting them out of his sight for even a moment feels like a terrible idea, as if this whole thing is a fever dream that he'll wake up from the second he steps out of Cyberspace.

But X isn't wrong; Axl has a job to do, and that job is stopping Copy X. Permanently.

But even so…

"I don't know if I can beat him," Axl admits, although it pains him to say it aloud.

Zero just scoffs. "Don't be ridiculous," he says. "Of course you can."

Axl is oddly touched by Zero's immediate dismissal of his worry, but shakes his head. "No, I…" He huffs in frustration, trying to put what he's feeling into words. "I'm good, but it might not be enough. I mean, this nutcase is a copy of you," he adds, turning to look at X. "And everyone knows that you were the best Maverick Hunter ever. How am I supposed to defeat someone who was literally created as a duplicate of that strength?"

"By remembering that you're _also_ one of the best Maverick Hunters," Zero replies, rolling his eyes as if this should be obvious.

"And Copy X may have been designed as a duplicate of me," X goes on, "but he _is_ just a copy. And not a particularly good copy at that," X adds, looking genuinely aggravated at the thought of Neo Arcadia's current leader; evidently X isn't any happier about Copy X's existence than Axl is. "He may possess a wide range of combat abilities," X goes on, "but he lacks my experience. He doesn't have years as a Maverick Hunter to bolster his tactics, and his instincts in the heat of battle won't be as well-honed."

That's…somewhat reassuring, Axl has to admit, but the knot of tension in his gut doesn't go away because there's still one small but significant issue that hasn't been addressed. And it's the one thing that's going to throw Axl off his game the most. "X…I've seen the files that Ciel has on Copy X," he says now. "He has your face."

"Well, yes," X replies, sounding unhappy but unsurprised. "That's to be expected, all things considered. He's a copy of me, after all."

"X, _he has your face_ ," Axl repeats stridently, because for some reason his incredibly smart friend isn't connecting the dots. "How am I supposed to fight and destroy someone who looks just like you?" Even just the thought of it is enough to make him feel queasy; as desperate as he is to stop Copy X's reign of terror, he's genuinely worried that he won't be able to pull the trigger when he needs to.

"By remembering that he's _not_ me," X says firmly. "And that he needs to be eliminated. There can never be true peace as long as that imposter is in charge of Neo Arcadia, Axl, you know that as well as I do. If he isn't defeated, things will only get worse for everyone."

"I know," Axl agrees, because that's why he's here; this can't go on any longer. Copy X must be stopped. "He needs to be stopped, I'm not arguing with you about that. I'm just pointing out the fact that I might not be able to do it."

"Axl," X says, "you're the only one who _can_." Then, in a gentler tone that is no less firm, "You can do it, Axl, I'm sure of it. I believe in you."

Something warm sparks in Axl's chest, twisting through him and easing the dark tendrils of anxiety that had been all but strangling him. "…Okay," he says at last, taking a deep breath and feeling a wave of renewed resolve wash over him. "I won't let you down."

"I don't doubt it," X says, giving a small smile. "You never have before."

The warm feeling grows, and Axl rubs at his face, vaguely embarrassed. "I'd better get going," he mumbles. "Ciel's going to lose her mind worrying if I stay out of contact for much longer."

"You shouldn't delay your mission any longer," X agrees. "The sooner Copy X is terminated, the sooner Neo Arcadia can start moving towards a better future."

Axl nods, and starts striding towards the portal that will return him to the real world.

Then he hesitates, a niggling thought at the back of his mind coming to the surface. And yes, he shouldn't waste any more time, but if he doesn't ask now he might not get another chance.

"...I have one last question," Axl says, halting and turning back around just before he passes through the glowing doorway and back out into the real world.

"Just one?" Zero asks, dryly disbelieving.

Axl just gives him a look.

X, knowing them both far too well, speaks before things can devolve into a bickering match. "What's your question, Axl?"

Axl opens his mouth, hesitates, and carefully gets his thoughts marshaled before he speaks. "I understand why you didn't try to contact Ciel, or anyone else for that matter. But why…" He swallows hard and struggles to keep his voice level. "Why didn't you ever try to contact _me_?"

X tilts his head as he regards Axl, expression carefully neutral but eyes bright with some powerful emotion that Axl's can't quite put his finger on. "What makes you think we didn't?"

Axl scowls, because he _knows_ that tone of voice; it's X's ' _you're wrong but I'm too nice to say so outright'_ voice that he reserves for situations where the person he's talking to has missed something obvious. "I think I would remember it if you had."

"You'd think so," X remarks, still painfully noncommittal.

Zero, meanwhile, rolls his eyes. "Axl," he says, "we've been trying to keep an eye on you ever since you first woke up."

"Just because you didn't see us," X puts in, "doesn't mean we weren't there."

Axl frowns, and almost opens his mouth to argue.

But then he thinks back to the day he'd come out of stasis, remembers strange flashing lights that had strobed red and blue before leading him to his gun. Thinks of what he'd said to Ciel at the time, about how something those lights had felt familiar for some reason.

"..You _were_ there," he realizes. "That day, when Ciel found me."

Zero gives him a look. "Of course we were. I promised, didn't I?"

Axl swallows hard, remembers that last conversation he'd had with Zero before he'd gone under.

" _Try to be there," he'd asked. "When I wake u_ p.

" _We'll be there," Zero had answered, sure and steadfast._

And they had been.

Axl hadn't realized at the time, had thought he'd been alone aside from Ciel and Milan, but they'd been there. Watching over him as best they could.

And not just then, either; a dozen other moments suddenly make so much more sense now that he has the full picture. "In the desert," he realizes, "after my fight with Fefnir. I thought I was hallucinating, but it was _you_."

"We didn't have enough energy to be there all the time," X says softly, looking regretful. "But we did our best to watch out for you, as often as we could manage it."

"...Thanks," Axl manages to say after a moment, too overwhelmed by emotion to get any other words out.

X and Zero are his best friends, though; they know him well enough to know what he's not saying, so they just offer up matching smiles before steering him back towards the exit.

"Time for you to get going," Zero says. "X and I will take care of the remaining security measures so you'll have a straight shot to Copy X. You'll need to move fast, though," he adds. "As soon as they realize you're here to take down Copy X, the Four Guardians are going to try to intercept you."

"I can handle the Guardians," Axl says. "Besides, if I move fast enough there's a chance I can get to Copy X before they catch up to me."

X nods. "Alright, then. Time is short. We'll talk again when everything's over," he says, "but for now this has to be goodbye."

"It is _not_ goodbye," Axl says, and if it comes out a little cranky he thinks he can be forgiven. "This is an 'I'll see you later', not a permanent farewell."

Zero rolls his eyes and all but shoves him through the door out of Cyber Space. "Clock's ticking, Maverick Hunter," he says, all exasperated fondness. "Get to work."


	18. Interlude with Ciel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, okay, so. It took me a dozen and a half chapters, but we finally have another look into things from Ciel's perspective. Rather like Chapter 11 did with Harpuia, this chapter features some introspection on Ciel's part, mostly her thoughts about Axl and how worried she is about him as he goes charging off to Neo Arcadia. Because it is just introspection and has no real action, it did end up being shorter than most chapters but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway (…although I don't know if 'enjoy' is the right word, lol).
> 
> Anyway, I hope you're all doing well these days! Thank you as always for your amazing reviews/comments; the feedback on the last chapter was INCREDIBLE, you guys are amazing. <3 I'm once again behind on replying to all those fabulous comments (sorry!) but you can expect responses gushing with gratitude at some point in the near future, once I get my act together, lol. ;D

**Chapter 18: Interlude with Ciel**

* * *

Ciel is worried.

This is nothing new, really. She's been varying levels of soul-crushingly worried for the better part of the last couple years. Worried about keeping everyone in the Resistance safe. Worried about solving the energy crisis so that the world has a chance to move forward towards peace rather than backwards towards strife. Worried about Neo Arcadia growing more powerful, more ruthless.

But those are all old worries, no less intense for their familiarity but a familiar burden nonetheless.

No, in the grand scheme of things what she's dealing with now is a relatively _new_ worry.

She's worried about Axl.

Or rather, worried _for_ him.

And not because he's going alone into the heart of Neo Arcadia without anyone to watch his back.

Or at least not _just_ because of that. That's indisputably a massive cause for concern in and of itself, but there's also a million little things that make her want to just grab Axl and send him somewhere peaceful where he doesn't have the fate of the Resistance resting on his shoulders.

It's the way he throws himself into fights with little or no regard for his own safety. She'd nearly had a heart attack when he'd staggered back to headquarters battered and broken after his fight with Fefnir. With stumbling steps, cracked armor, and a haunted expression, he'd looked like a war survivor, ragged and worn.

(Which he is, she remembers with a small start of surprise. It's too easy to forget sometimes, between his friendly smiles and easygoing demeanor, that Axl is a veteran of not just one war but _two_. That he's a _Maverick Hunter_ , someone on par with legends like Zero and X themselves.

She can't help but wonder sometimes if he hates her, for waking him up and dragging him into another violent conflict. She doesn't think he does, but in all honesty she wouldn't blame him if he did.

After all, this whole mess is her fault.)

It's the way he looks so lost sometimes, his usual smile replaced by a melancholy look of loneliness when he thinks no one is watching. The way he'll sometimes turn, as if to speak to someone he's used to having at his side, only to realize that whoever he's looking for isn't there.

It's the way he reacts whenever someone mentions Copy X. The way he stiffens at the name, the way he flinches whenever someone speaks of the latest atrocity committed by the forces of Neo Arcadia. The way he looks furious and heartbroken in equal measure whenever he's talking about the replica of his friend.

(She can't even begin to fathom what it must be like for him, fighting for the Resistance during these last few long months and knowing all the while that he's going to have to fight Copy X if he wants to end the conflict for good. Going to have to fight someone who, because of her, is a duplicate of someone Axl had once deeply respected and cared for.

He's on his way there right now, and there's nothing Ciel can do except offer emotional support and hacking expertise.

It doesn't feel like enough.)

It's the way he tries so hard to make sure as many Resistance fighters as possible survive, pulling them out of dangerous situations and rescuing them from missions-gone-wrong even when it means putting himself at risk instead. It's the way he takes care of Totten, making sure the Cyber Elf is fed and pampered as much as possible even as he brushes aside questions asking after his own well-being.

It's the way he's never told Ciel 'no' when she's asked for his help with something, not even once since they'd first met in that abandoned laboratory. No matter how impossible a mission seems, Axl always agrees without hesitation.

It's the way he promised to help her make things right, even though he's suffering himself.

"The X we're fighting…he's not the original," she'd told him all those months ago, and she'd seen the fury and the heartbreak on his face, had seen the way her words had made him wince as if what she was saying was physically painful to hear.

He could have walked away then; she doesn't think she would have blamed him if he had.

But he hadn't left. Hadn't abandoned Ciel or her Resistance.

He'd chosen to stay.

Ciel had spilled the horrible truth to him, telling him of her culpability in Copy X's creation, and _he'd chosen to stay_.

"How can I help?" he'd said, and to this day Ciel's never been so blown away by four simple words. Has never been so _grateful_.

(She could spend the rest of her life trying to pay Axl back for everything he's done, all the lives he's saved and the hope he's renewed in people's hearts, and it would never be enough.)

Axl is fiercely compassionate in a way that Ciel has never seen before, and she's so, _so_ worried for him.

Because he's possibly the most skilled battle Reploid she's ever met (certainly the only surviving Maverick Hunter she's ever met, which is a testament to his strength in and of itself), but he's going to Neo Arcadia to confront _Copy X himself_. A Reploid that Ciel herself designed to be as much like original X as possible, right down to his legendary strength and wide range of combat abilities.

Ciel wants so desperately for Copy X to be defeated, but she doesn't know if it's possible. She thinks that if anyone stands a chance at pulling it off, it's Axl. Because he's quick and clever and stubborn, never giving up regardless of the circumstances. So, yes, she's of the opinion that If anyone can emerge victorious from an assault on Neo Arcadia, it's indisputably Axl.

But she's _terrified_ of what the cost of that victory might be.

(She doesn't want Copy X to be defeated if the price is ultimately Axl's life. He's a valuable Resistance member and, more importantly, he's her _friend_.

She doesn't want to lose anymore friends. She's lost too many already.

 _Please,_ she thinks, _please come back to us._

 _Survive, and come home._ )


	19. Chapter 19: The Power of Mercy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh, so remember when I said that the assault on Neo Arcadia would be a 3 chapter thing? Turns out I'm a liar! Long story short: Certain parts of this chapter ended up longer than I originally anticipated, so I had to split the last chunk of the Neo Arcadia mission into two separate chapters. Meaning that the Attack-Neo-Arcadia arc of this story is now going to four chapters long (five if you count Ciel's interlude). Anyway, this chapter features me once again diverging rather sharply from canon because it's been literally years and I'm still salty about Phantom's death. XD Enjoy!

**Chapter 19: The Power of Mercy**

* * *

Axl is unhappy but not particularly surprised when his forward momentum is brought to a halt by a beetle-themed Mutos Reploid who comes crashing through a wall to block his path as he gets closer to Copy X's location.

All things being equal, he's more surprised that his one-man invasion of Neo Arcadia hasn't been met with more serious resistance until now.

(And if he's perhaps a little relieved at the distraction this enemy provides from his own whirling anxious thoughts about X and Zero and Copy X, well... no one has to know that but him, right?)

"Halt, intruder!" the other Reploid commands. "You are trespassing into the sanctuary of Master X. Surrender now, or be destroyed!"

Axl gives a small snort of amusement before he can stop himself. "Sorry," he replies, "but surrendering isn't really on my agenda for today. Maybe next time?"

"Insolent wretch," his enemy snaps, looking furious. "I, Herculious Anchortus, will defeat you in the name of Guardian Harpuia and for the glory of the Strong Air Battalion."

Axl blinks at the mention of Harpuia, then curses under his breath. Because if this guy fights in the Strong Air Battalion than it's more than likely that Harpuia and the other Guardians have been alerted to Axl's presence. Which means that they're probably on their way to intercept him _right this very moment_.

He's running out of time.

Because he's confident in his combat abilities, but he doesn't like the odds if he has to fight Copy X after having to fight the all four Guardians as well. Which means he's going to have to wrap things up with Herculious Anchortus sooner rather than later, so he can hurry forward and reach Copy X before the Guardians catch up to him.

"I don't have time for this," he tells Herculious now, his tone somewhere between brusque and apologetic as he draws his energy pistol and opens fire.

The fight is brutal but quick; Herculious is a fierce opponent and skilled in his own right but Axl is driven by a burning sort of desperation that takes his already excellent marksmanship and enhances it even further; he doesn't miss a single shot, and it doesn't take long for him to make critical hits to all of his enemy's vulnerable points.

He doesn't kill him, though. He's not sure if he's doing it for himself or for X (the real X, not a copy or even just Axl's memory of him, but the _real_ thing and that's a miracle Axl still can't dare to believe) or Herculious Anchortus, but he still finds himself unable to do anything other than offer as much mercy as possible.

(He thinks it might be partially for Harpuia, who had seemed to feel _something_ about the mercy Axl had shown to Aztec Falcon all those months ago and who, of all the Guardians, might mourn the loss of a loyal warrior under his command despite the fury he'd shown over receiving that same mercy himself.)

So he leaves Herculious Anchortus unconscious but alive, buried beneath a pile of strategically placed rubble that will keep him immobilized if he wakes up, at least until his self-repair systems fix his body enough to allow for an improved range of movement.

Unfortunately, Axl doesn't make it much farther before he's intercepted once again, albeit this time with more subtlety than Herculious had shown during his attack.

In fact, if not for a faint gleam of light reflecting off the dark metal of his enemy's sword, Axl might have been caught entirely off guard.

He flings himself to the side just in the nick of time, narrowly avoiding what otherwise would've been a messy decapitation.

"Why won't you just die already," Hidden Phantom hisses, looking furious over Axl's quick dodge.

"Because there's too much left for me to do," Axl replies, somewhere between wryly amused and wearily honest.

He's also more than a little frustrated, because he's _so close_ to Copy X's location; the inner sanctum where Copy X resides isn't that far away from where he is now, but now that a Guardian has shown up to confront him….well, his odds of getting there before more reinforcements arrive are starting to get pretty slim, which means his overall chances for success are likewise taking a hit.

He's nothing if not tenacious, though; he won't give up on his mission, not ever.

So he readies himself for another fight.

This latest battle turns out to be just as aggravating as his first fight against Phantom; the other Reploid's special abilities make it difficult to predict where he'll attack from next, or what form that attack will take. One moment Phantom will be lunging at him with his sword, the next moment he'll be fifty yards away flinging a flurry of shuriken at him; Axl manages to avoid taking any direct hits thanks to his quick reflexes, but only barely.

Finally, after what feels like a small eternity but is probably only a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes at the most, they reach something of a standstill, both of them lightly battered and panting for breath; it's obvious that Phantom has been training since his last loss to Axl, determined not to be defeated again.

(Axl is sort of reluctantly impressed actually, if also somewhat irritated at the roadblock Phantom has become for Axl's mission.)

The problem, Axl realizes when Phantom makes another slashing strike towards his throat even as Axl fires off a shot at Phantom's hands in an attempt to make him drop the blade, is that he's still holding back a little, still aiming to wound rather than to kill. He has, in a sense, handicapped himself.

The pragmatic part of him, the part that worked as an assassin for Red Alert for so long, views this as a Very Bad Idea, especially given how obvious it is that Phantom is very much trying to kill him. From a strictly logical and practical standpoint, it would be better to go full throttle against his opponent; he can't afford to lose, after all, there's too much resting on his shoulders for that to ever be an option.

There's another part of him, though, the part that's compassionate, the part that learned mercy from X. That part is hesitant to unleash his full strength against Phantom because he's been trying so hard to not kill his opponents when at all possible, whenever there's a chance that his enemy could become something other than an enemy in the future.

But he doesn't know if that's possible, here and now with Phantom. He _wants_ it to be, but he can't be sure; because Phantom is relentless and brutal in his attacks, and Axl can't risk losing here, not when everyone in the Resistance is counting on him to push on and defeat Copy X.

Sparing Phantom's life in these circumstances Is going to be difficult, because there's just so much at stake on this mission.

Ax is determined to try, though. Sure, it won't be easy, but what is easy these days? Besides, he can remember something X had said to him once, years and years ago, back when they'd still been Maverick Hunters and nothing else.

"Isn't it hard, though?" Axl had asked one day, after witnessing X spare an enemy's life and send them to a rehabilitation facility instead of a scrapyard. "To let an enemy go, knowing that they might come back and cause trouble later? How do you know you're making the right decision?"

X had given him a weary smile, tired but determined. "I don't," he'd replied honestly. "There's no way to know for sure if they'll really turn over a new leaf or not. It's certainly possible that someone whose life I spare could come back and decide they want revenge later."

"Then why do it?" Axl had demanded. "Why risk it?" Prior to joining the Hunters, he'd always been of the opinion that if there was a threat, you removed it; it was how Red Alert operated, after all, taking out their targets without hesitation or second guessing.

"Because it's the right thing to do," X had said, as if it really were just that simple. "Because I believe in the power of mercy, and I believe that everyone deserves a second chance. A chance to do the right thing, to do better. Because I have hope that people can be their best selves, even if they've lost their way. It's not easy," he'd added. "Showing mercy can be difficult, sometimes. But that doesn't mean it isn't worth it."

 _It isn't easy_ , Axl thinks now, shooting some of Phantom's shuriken out of the air before they can slice into his face, _but it's the right thing to do_.

Because Copy X might be a self-centered homicidal maniac, but Phantom probably isn't (aggression towards Axl notwithstanding). Because the Guardians, Axl has come to realize, are beholden to the leader of Neo Arcadia more out of obligation than genuine loyalty. They likely don't know a life other the one they've lived under Copy X's rule, and given that Axl can't help but feel sorry for them; they've never been given a chance to be anything other than Copy X's brutal enforcers. They never got the second chance that Axl did, and that doesn't seem fair.

He wants them to have that chance; they deserve to live the lives they want just as much as the members of the Resistance do.

Besides, the Guardians were originally designed to work alongside X and help restore the planet; Axl would like for them to actually meet the _real_ X someday, and perhaps have an opportunity to fulfill their true duties if that's what they want. And that won't ever happen if Axl destroys them, so he needs to find another way.

It won't be easy, but Axl's okay with that.

Because Axl wants to believe in a better future, too, and he's willing to take the hard road to get there.

So he continues to shoot Phantom's shuriken out of the air, and when the opportunity presents itself he deflects another strike from Phantom's sword and twists the blade right out his opponent's grasp, sending him flying backwards with a strong kick to the chest.

Now that his opponent has been thoroughly disarmed, Axl lets some of the tension leave his body; the battle is over. Now all he can do is wait for Phantom to admit that.

Phantom, meanwhile, stays sprawled on the floor for a moment, as if stunned by the sudden turn the fight had taken. Then he struggles to his feet with a fierce scowl, eyes dark with emotion. "I cannot lose," he says, voice rough and furious. "I won't lose!"

Axl takes a slow, careful step forward, gun pointed deliberately away. "Phantom, it's over."

"No!" Phantom shouts. "I refuse to accept that. I will not fail Master X," he goes on, desperation warring with resignation in his expression as he pulls out a small contraption and hefts it into the air. "This will destroy the both of us, Maverick Hunter," he says with a sneer. "Prepare to meet your end!"

 _A bomb_ , Axl realizes, a sudden sinking feeling erupting in his chest. _A suicide bomb. He's going to blow himself up, just in the hopes of taking me out._

His hopes for sparing the Guardians go up in a puff of metaphorical despairing smoke. Because he can offer mercy until the cows come home, but if his enemies would rather die than accept it…well, there's not much he can do about that, is there?

"Phantom, what are you doing," someone demands suddenly, voice wavering with either anger or worry.

Axl and Phantom both crane their heads around, and Axl's pretty sure they wear matching expressions of gaping surprise when they see who's just arrived on the scene.

"Harpuia?" Phantom says, a flicker of uncertainty flickering across his face, there and gone again so fast that Axl wonders if he imagines seeing it. "What are you doing here? I told you I could handle it!"

"A kamikaze attack does not count as handling anything," Harpuia snaps.

"It does if it's successful," Phantom hisses. "I'll take out this outdated scrap heap and bring honor to us all with my sacrifice!"

"There's no honor in a senseless sacrifice," Harpuia retorts, hands clenching into fists as some strong emotion flares in his eyes. "Your death would weaken all of Neo Arcadia!"

(Maybe it's just Axl's imagination, but he can't help but hear a more personal edge in Harpuia's voice, a genuine alarm for something besides Neo Arcadia no matter what he might be saying verbally.

Harpuia is, in this moment, someone who doesn't want to lose his brother.

And Axl _shouldn't care_. They're his enemies, he shouldn't empathize with them, shouldn't care whether they live or die as long as he's able to complete his mission.

But Axl _does_ care. He's pragmatic to the point of ruthless sometimes -a mindset born from his years as Red Alert's top operative- but that doesn't mean he's heartless, and the years he'd spent as a Maverick Hunter alongside X and Zero had only heightened that empathy.

Harpuia doesn't want to lose someone he cares about, doesn't want to lose a member of his _family_ , and Axl is far too familiar with that feeling himself to be anything other than painfully sympathetic.)

"I have to do this," Phantom shouts now, lifting the bomb even higher. "It's the only way!" He flicks a switch and a red light starts blinking, counting down the seconds.

"No," Axl shouts, voice cracking from the force of his emotions as he lunges forward, using his hover jets for an extra boost of speed; he can dimly hear Harpuia shouting something, but he can't make out the words over the roaring in his head.

He reaches Phantom between one breath and the next, and wrenches the bomb from the other Reploid's grip with a furious curse, hurling the explosive as far away as he can; it detonates barely two seconds later, sending a shock-wave through the room that sends them all tumbling down to the ground.

Phantom surges to his feet a moment later, eyes blazing with fury. "How dare you," he begins to say, but Axl really isn't in the mood to hear whatever rant is forthcoming.

So Axl knocks him out. One strategically placed stunning shot to the juncture between his neck and shoulder is all it takes given the damage that Phantom had already sustained thanks to their earlier battle, and the ninja-themed Reploid crumples to the ground.

Axl looks down at him for a moment, feeling almost unbearably weary. Then the sound of approaching footsteps reaches him, and he tenses instinctively.

"He won't thank you for saving him," Harpuia says, approaching with a wary look in his eyes.

"I didn't do it for his thanks," Axl replies.

"Why did you do it, then?" the Guardian asks, expression unreadable.

Axl just shrugs, lets the silence stretch between them as he considers what to say, or if he should even say anything. "Maybe I'm just tired of people throwing their lives away," he says at last, and even he's not sure if it's the whole truth but it's certainly part of it.

Harpuia just looks at him, his gaze intense as if Axl is a puzzle he's trying to piece together, a riddle he's struggling to solve. "I don't understand you at all," he mutters, so low that Axl barely hears him. Then he shakes his head, and goes to kneel besides Phantom's prone form. "I need to take him to receive medical attention," he says now, tugging Phantom up off the ground and into his arms before pinning Axl in a severe look. "Leviathan and Fefnir are on their way," he tells him. "You'll need to hurry, if you don't want to fight them."

Axl stares at him, entirely at a loss. A Guardian of Neo Arcadia, sending him on his way to confront Copy X? It seems surreal to the point of impossible. "I don't…why are you helping me?"

"I'm not helping you," Harpuia says immediately, looking torn between feeling offended and feeling defensive. "I am helping my fellow Guardians. They are formidable fighters, but battling with you could lead to their deaths. Which would weaken Neo Arcadia. And I am loyal to Neo Arcadia," he adds, a bright sort of fierceness sparking in his gaze.

 _Loyal to Neo Arcadia_ , Axl thinks, and can't help but notice that Harpuia isn't saying, _Loyal to Master X_ anymore.

(He doesn't know what that means, that small but significant change, and he doesn't know what caused it; doesn't know if this change of heart is the result of Phantom's actions and Harpuia's inability to watch a sibling throw their life away for the sake of a leader that doesn't care about anything other than himself, or if Harpuia had already been tired of Copy X's regime and simply unable to express that sentiment in any way until now.)

Axl doesn't know what's driving Harpuia's actions, but he can't find it in himself to be anything other than vaguely confused and undeniably relieved.

Because at the end of the day, when it comes right down to it he doesn't want to fight the Guardians. He hadn't wanted to fight Phantom, and he doesn't want to fight Fefnir or Leviathan, either. Or Harpuia. All he wants to do is remove Copy X from the equation, and this improves his odds of success at doing that.

Not by a lot. By maybe it's enough.

(Maybe it means that his hopes for the Guardians aren't so far-fetched after all.)

"See you around, Harpuia," he says now, and vanishes into the darkness, leaving the two Guardians behind as he pushes on, towards the heart of Neo Arcadia where Copy X is waiting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I hope you all enjoyed that chapter! Next up we have Chapter 20, which will feature the long-awaited battle against Copy X. :D
> 
> Anyway, I hope you're all doing well these days! Sorry for not replying to anyone's comments this past week. I meant to answer them all a few days ago, but unfortunately I wasn't feeling up to it. I've had kind of a rough couple of days (I've been feeling perpetually stressed for no specific reason I can pinpoint beyond a few little things at work and home, and it's resulted in some sleep deprivation which was, uh, not great, lol, but I'm feeling a bit better today so I think I just needed some extra rest. Also, posting fic and having everyone flail at me is always a mood-booster so I think that'll help, too. ;D 
> 
> Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say here is that I love you guys and I'm sorry I've been MIA for the last few days. <3 Hope you're all doing okay, and I'll see you next week for the big Copy X showdown. ;D


	20. Chapter 20: Confrontation with Copy X

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are, friends! The long-awaited confrontation with Copy X! I hope it lives up to your expectations. ;D

**Chapter 20: Confrontation with Copy X**

* * *

Axl's first thought when he sees Copy X is, _Ciel and those other scientists really knew what they were doing._

Because Copy X really does look almost _exactly_ like X. His height, body shape, armor, all of it. It's all spot on.

Even his face. This X carries himself differently and there's no warmth in his gaze when he sees Axl enter into the room, but otherwise it's exactly like looking at his friend. He is, for all intents and purposes, a perfect copy. The only difference is the vivid red eyes, bright crimson like freshly spilled blood in an otherwise familiar face.

It is deeply, _deeply_ disturbing.

Perhaps even more disturbing than he'd anticipated, since Axl was able to see the _real_ X in Cyberspace not so long ago, which makes it even easier to compare the two of them and see both the unsettling resemblance and all the subtle differences.

Then Copy X speaks, and that's terrible too because the bastard even _sounds_ like X; it's enough to make Axl feel like throwing up, because it sounds like X but everything from his intonation to the cadence of his words is wrong, wrong, _wrong_.

(Axl isn't normally inclined to actually _hating_ his enemies; hate, in general, isn't an emotion that comes easily to him. Even now, after a lifetime of fighting and the traumatic events of multiple wars, there are very few opponents he's _truly_ despised.

But he can say with a great deal he certainty that he hates Copy X.)

"So you're the upstart Resistance member who's been defying my plans for peace," Copy X says now, expression arrogant and cold as he looks down at Axl from the dais he's standing on. "You don't look so impressive to me."

Axl takes a deep breath, trying to ignore the crawling feeling that's skittering across his body, and fixes his gaze deliberately on a point just above Copy X's shoulder; logically he knows that this isn't really X, but that doesn't mean he can stand to see his friend's face on someone who will only ever be his enemy. "My name is Axl," he says, fighting to keep his voice calm and level. "Maverick Hunter Axl, to be specific."

"Maverick Hunter," Copy X echoes, something derisive in his tone. "An outdated designation, for an outdated Reploid. You're out of your depth here, _Axl_." That familiar face twists into a faint sneer, condescending and dismissive in equal measure, and Axl's chest tightens at hearing his name spilling out of the duplicate's mouth, the sound of it warped and unsettling.

He takes another deep breath, ignoring the way it shakes on the exhale, and tightens his grip on his pistol; he desperately wishes he had both of his guns, but one will have to do since he never did manage to figure out where the other one had ended up; he supposes that he could've asked Zero and X, but he'd had so much else to ask them that it had slipped his mind entirely. "I guess you know why I've come here," he says now, and it's not a question.

Copy X's haughty expression darkens. "Of course I do. You think to defeat me, the supreme ruler of Neo Arcadia." A smirk twists his face into a mockery of X's smile. "But it's hopeless for you. Don't you understand?"

"I understand that you're nothing more than a cheap copy of a great warrior," Axl retorts, fury flickering to life in his chest as his gaze drifts back to his enemy, mind catching on all the physical similarities he can't seem to ignore.

"You're mistaken," Copy X says, arrogance once again thick in his voice. "I am a perfect copy of the original X. No," he corrects, "more than that. I have brought peace and happiness to the humans of Neo Arcadia, and in doing so I have _surpassed_ the original! This utopia that I created here…only _I_ could have done it! The original X is _nothing_ in comparison to me!"

"A civilization built on genocide is nothing close to being a utopia," Axl replies, disgusted. "How can you stand there and proclaim yourself greater than X when peace for humanity comes at the cost of countless Reploid lives? The real X was ten times better than you could ever hope to be!"

"Enough of your yammering," Copy X snaps, activating his Buster. "You-"

"Get away from Master X," a feminine voice snarls suddenly, and Axl has to duck down low to the ground to avoid the sharp spear that comes sailing towards his head a second later.

He rises up from his crouch to see Leviathan charging forward with a murderous expression, Fefnir close on her heels with a look on his face that's somewhere between anticipatory and regretful.

 _Looks like they caught up after all_ , he thinks, and a flicker of what might be despair springs to life in his chest before he crushes it down; having the remaining two Guardians on the scene makes a victory for him more unlikely, but not impossible. He can't afford to give up hope, not when he's come this far already.

He _has_ to stop Copy X. No matter what. He'll do whatever it takes.

"Leviathan, Fefnir," he says now, tipping his head in greeting because he can still offer respect even if he's unhappy to see them. "Long time no see."

"What are you doing here?" Copy X demands, looking surprisingly irate over what seems to be a rescue attempt for his own good. "This doesn't concern the Guardians. Leave immediately!"

Leviathan's fierce expression falters, replaced by confusion and hurt. "But, Master X…we've come to protect you!"

"Protect me," Copy X repeats, scoffing. "I think it's already been established that you're no match for him. I can handle this myself."

"But Master X…!"

"Leave, I said!" Copy X shouts, his voice reverberating off the walls.

And still Leviathan stays, a mulish set to her chin that's at odd with the uncertainty in her gaze. "But Master X," she tries again, only to be interrupted once more.

"You've been given a direct order by the leader of Neo Arcadia," Harpuia interjects, striding into the room with a determined expression. "You are obligated to obey."

( _What the hell are you doing here_ , Axl wants to ask him. _What happened to Phantom?_ But he traps the words in his mouth, because now isn't the time for those questions.

He has no idea what Harpuia is trying to accomplish by trying to get the other Guardians out of the way, but he's not about to interfere.)

"It's our job to protect him," Fefnir objects, speaking up for the first time since entering the room, his hands gripping his cannon so tightly that it's a wonder the metal doesn't crack under the force.

"It is our job to _follow his orders_ ," Harpuia counters stridently. "And he has ordered us to stand down." He turns to look at Copy X, expression impassive. "Correct?"

"Correct," Copy X agreed, turning his attention back towards Axl. "I am the most powerful Reploid ever created, stronger even than the original X. I can handle a single Resistance member with ease!" He charges up his Buster, leveling it at Axl. "Prepare to die, Maverick Hunter!"

Axl opens fire with his pistol even as a rapid series of Buster Shots come flying straight at him; he's dimly aware of Leviathan and Fefnir calling out to Copy X even as Harpuia ushers them from the room and out of the crossfire, but he doesn't have time to spare them more than a passing thought once the battle begins in earnest.

"You cannot hope to win," Copy X declares, switching to elemental attacks and unleashing a torrent of lightning blasts as Axl leaps out of the way with a panicked curse and hurriedly tries to throw together some sort of strategy for fighting someone who has all of X's battle abilities and none of his soul. "I am the saviour of this world, and cannot be defeated!"

"Well, I always have liked a challenge," Axl quips, grimly amused even as he mentally cycles through his catalog of DNA data, hoping to stumble upon a form or ability that will give him even the lightest edge in this battle.

Copy X shouts something derisive and angry, clearly displeased with Axl's chronic inability to not joke in the face of imminent danger. Axl, with the ease of long practice from years of enemies hurling insults at him, ignores the yelling.

There's not a lot of talking after that, just furious fighting and desperate dodging accompanied by curses and battle cries.

The most frustrating thing, Axl quickly discovers, is Copy X's ability to shift between different elemental attacks so easily; one moment he'll be unleashing bursts of fire that Axl can more or less counter with something water-based like the Splash Laser, and the next he'll be firing off lightning blasts again and Axl has to scramble to think of a counter-attack that won't result in him accidentally conducting ten thousand volts of electricity through his body. Then the bastard will change it up again and switch to a water-based attack of his own, forcing Axl to adapt his strategy _again_.

(Axl shudders to think of what this battle would be like for someone with only average battle capabilities; if he didn't have access to a wide range of different elemental weapons himself thanks to all the DNA data stored within him, he'd be up the creek without a paddle in the worst possible way.)

Eventually, though, he manages to land a few lucky shots, leaving charred tears in Copy X's armor; it makes something in his chest twist, putting wounds onto a body that looks so much like his friend's but he pushes the feeling down, burying it deep where it can't interfere with what he has to do.

 _I can't lose focus_ , Axl tells himself firmly. _I have to win_. He thinks of his promise to Ciel, to help her stop Copy X and make things right. He thinks of Totten, so earnest and eager, waiting for Axl to come home so they can go on another mission together. He thinks of all his friends back at the Resistance base, counting on him to win.

He thinks of X and Zero, stuck in Cyberspace and still trying to protect the world.

 _They're all depending on me_ , he thinks. _I won't let them down._

He fights with renewed vigor then, moving faster and shooting with greater accuracy. It helps, too, that despite all his boasting about being superior to the original, Copy X actually _isn't_ better at fighting than X himself. Oh, he's got overpowered abilities for sure, and his armor is obviously made out of some super special damage-resistant alloy.

But he's _arrogant_. Overconfident in his own strength in a way that the original X had never been. Copy X truly believes that he's superior, and because of that Axl thinks that he has a chance of winning. Because Copy X doesn't dodge everything Axl throws at him, so certain that his superior design will protect him.

Axl sees that, sees the arrogance and the overconfidence and thinks, _I can work with that._

If he times it right, and stacks the odds in his favor as much as possible, all it will take is one shot.

 _Just one shot_ , he thinks. _Better make it count._

He flicks at the energy setting for his pistol, pushing it to the maximum power level it can handle without automatically overloading. "This has to end," he says, too low to he heard (not that Copy X is listening anyway), and lines up the shot right as Copy X charges towards him once more.

The blast flies true, striking Copy X dead center in the chest and sending him flying across the room to crash into the far wall; Axl can hear the impact from where's he's standing, crunching metal and sparking electricity.

For one terrible, hopeful moment he thinks it might be over.

The the psychotic duplicate of his friend _gets back up_.

Copy X lets out a fierce cry, the harsh sound echoing off the walls and reverberating throughout and room as a blinding light emanates from his body.

Axl barely has time to curse before Copy X's entire appearance shifts, his armor going from blue to white and gold, with wing-like protrusions jutting out from his helmet and shoulders as power crackles around him.

"Did not see that coming," Axl mutters, horrified and irritated in equal measure, and then vaults to the side as the altered Copy X unleashes another barrage of attacks that sends him scrambling for cover.

( _On the plus side_ , he thinks, _at least he doesn't look so much like X now_. It's the strange little wings spurting out of the helmet, he thinks; the X _he_ knows wouldn't be caught dead wearing armor like that. _Too ostentatious_ , he would say, and Axl would agree.)

Axl ducks out from behind the pillar he's using for shelter the second the attacks pause, and fires off another round of energy shots, the blasts sizzling through the air with abnormal force since he hasn't dialed the pistol's power setting back down yet.

His gun grows hot in his grip the longer he shoots, though, and he can't help but worry if it's going to overheat or malfunction in some way. Because his pistol is designed to be durable, but the super-charged energy shots put an indisputable strain on the weapon; using it at the maximum power setting for an extended period of time just isn't feasible.

He doesn't have much of a choice, though; Copy X's little transformation light-show had clearly upgraded his armor in some way, and now those high-powered shots are the only thing working.

Even that's not quite good enough, though; sure, he's putting cracks in Copy X's brilliant white and gold armor, but he's not actually doing much damage to Copy X's body underneath the armor. And that's what he needs to be doing; he needs to find some way for a shot to get all the way through the armor, to strike at Copy X's power core.

He decides to focus all of his shots on one section of Copy X's chest armor; with enough repeated strikes, he should be able to create a large enough gap in the armor to get in one final (and hopefully fatal) shot at his enemy's power core.

So he keeps shooting, shot after shot after shot after shot.

Right up until his gun explodes in his hand.

Bits of metal and alloy from the ruined weapon go flying in every direction as Axl curses and cradles his hand to chest, red-hot spikes of pain lancing through his entire right arm as his auto-repair systems whir to life to start cataloging the damage.

Copy X, meanwhile, lets out a high, hysterical laugh that grates on Axl's nerves. "Do you see now, Maverick Hunter?" he asks, sounding viciously amused. "Your fight against me was hopeless from the start."

Axl curses again, then narrows his gaze at his enemy.

 _There_ , he thinks, gaze honing in on the charred crack in Copy X's armor that his last shot had produced; Copy X himself doesn't seem to be paying any attention to it ( _too cocky_ , says a voice at the back of Axl's mind, and it sounds like Zero, an echo of a memory from a long ago day) but Axl can see the faint glow of his enemy's power core through the cracked metal. _Right there._

"Time for you to die," Copy X snarls, charging forward with a murderous expression.

 _I guess this is it_ , Axl thinks, and draws Milan's Buster.

He waits until Copy X is practically on top of him to shoot; after all, his borrowed Buster doesn't have the same power and accuracy as his old gun, and he can't afford to miss.

Out of all the shots he's taken over the course of his life, this one might matter the most.

It has to be perfect.

When Copy X is barely a step away, red eyes glowing with a mad sort of triumphant glee at what he thinks is about to be his own victory, Axl fires.

The shot from the Buster impacts perfectly, sizzling through the air and into the gap in Copy X's armor before it slams right into the other Reploid's power core.

There's a brief moment where everything is frozen, like the world has stopped moving for just the space of a single breath.

Then Copy X's body seizes up, arcs of electricity crackling out of the gaps in his armor as he thrashes in place.

"How…How is this possible," he demands, smoke starting to spill out of the cracks in his armor as the smell of charred circuitry starts to fill the air. "I am…I am the perfect copy! I cannot…I cannot be defeated!"

Axl levels the Buster at his enemy's head, holding back a flinch when that familiar face turns to glare at him with a hateful expression, red eyes all but glowing with malice. "It's over," he says.

"No, it's not," Copy X hisses. "I'll just get stronger, you'll see. I _am_ the perfect copy, better than the original. And I will not stop until everyone acknowledges it, until the world is at peace and I am hailed as the saviour that I am. Because _I_ am the true hero, not a pathetic outdated scrapheap like you. Never you. I'm-"

Axl fires one final shot, and all is silent.

"I'm not a hero," Axl tells the empty room, vision wavering as he stares down at the lifeless body of his enemy.

In all his life, Axl's only ever known a few people who he would consider heroes, and he doesn't count himself among that number. Two of them currently reside in Cyberspace.

(He wonders if they're somehow watching this now, and what they're thinking if they are.)

Shaking his head in an attempt to shake off the bizarre feeling of melancholy that's suddenly gripping him, he moves to leave the room, because he's just assassinated the supreme leader of Neo Arcadia and sticking around to be caught holding the literal smoking gun doesn't seem like a great idea.

Unfortunately, as much as he wants to hit the road, his battered body has other ideas.

He collapses after taking a grand total of two steps towards the door, darkness crowding in at the edges of his vision as the floor rises up to meet him.

Then the world goes dark, and he sinks into nothingness.


	21. Chapter 21: Towards a Better Tomorrow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the final chapter of (the first story arc of) this story! It's been a long haul and a wild ride, but I've had a lot of fun and I'm grateful to all of you who have read this story and enjoyed it. Thank you all so much for your endless support and encouraging feedback. Anyway, this chapter (Chapter 21) is going to wrap things up for this story arc; essentially, you can consider it the ending of MMZ1 events. Enjoy!

**Chapter 21: Towards a Better Tomorrow**

* * *

Axl opens his eyes to the sight of a clear blue sky, with the feeling of warm sand underneath him.

He hadn't expected to regain consciousness at all after blacking out in the wake of Copy X's defeat, so the relief from being alive is momentarily enough to drown out thoughts like, _Oh no, not the desert again._

Then the relief subsides slightly, just enough for his mental gears to start turning again, and he's left to wonder, _How did I get here?_

Because the last thing he remembers is collapsing in the heart of Neo Arcadia; it doesn't make any sense for him to now be miles away in the desert.

He blinks up at the sky for a moment, trying to puzzle it out, then a figure walks into his line of sight and answers the question for him.

"You're awake," Harpuia says, expression inscrutable as he peers down at Axl, the light from the sun casting his features into sharp relief.

Axl squints up the commander of the Strong Air Battalion, not bothering to mask the confusion he's feeling. "…I seem to be," he agrees, and then subsides into silence because he has absolutely no idea what to say. He doesn't even know what's going on.

He stares at Harpuia some more, then his gaze drifts off to the side where he spots Aztec Falcon a short distance away, circling above them in the air in what seems to be some sort of alternate form, his wings spread out wide as he keeps a sharp eye on the surrounding area.

"...I don't understand," Axl says at last, breaking his silence because as time ticks on it becomes increasingly obvious that Harpuia isn't going to speak again unless prompted.

"What's not to understand? You won against Master-" Harpuia cuts himself off with a grimace. "Against _Copy_ X," he corrects, shaking his head.

"Yeah, no, _that_ I remember," Axl replies dryly, levering himself into a more upright position so he's not sprawled on his back for the duration of the conversation. "I also remember passing out immediately afterwards," he adds, giving Harpuia a pointed stare.

Harpuia gives an irritated huff, looking away. He doesn't speak again for a long moment, seeming to marshal his thoughts.

Axl, meanwhile, is content to wait; with Copy X defeated, he's got nothing pressing to take care of. Not right this very moment, at least. Honestly, it's almost a little relieving to sit here and know that he can do it, that he can take a moment and just _exist_ without feeling the pressure of _fixing the world_ resting on his shoulders.

There's undoubtedly still a lot of fighting and struggling in his future (the reason for why he'd originally gone into stasis in the first place has yet to be addressed, after all), but for now it's nice to sit here in the warmth of the sun and just _breathe_.

Finally, after an indeterminable amount of time, Harpuia speaks.

"Things in Neo Arcadia are somewhat…chaotic at the moment," he tells Axl now. "Most are unaware of the specifics of what happened, but even so there's a great deal of restructuring that needs to be done in the wake of…of _his_ death. Given that your actions are the direct cause of that unrest," he adds, "it seemed prudent to remove you from the immediate area. You likely would have been killed in your sleep, otherwise."

That both…makes sense and _doesn't_ make sense. "Why not let that happen?" he asks, genuinely curious. "I mean, you don't owe me anything. If anything, I owe you; without your intervention, I wouldn't have been able to fight Copy X one-on-one."

Harpuia's face drops into a scowl. "Don't remind me," he mutters.

Axl shrugs. "It is what it is," he says pragmatically. "My point here is that you could have just left me there to die."

Harpuia gives him that piercing look again, jaw clenched. "No," he says after a moment. "I don't think I could have."

"And why not?" Axl presses.

Harpuia looks frustrated, although whether the feeling is directed at himself or Axl is difficult to say. "It just didn't…seem right," he manages to bite out at last, looking aggravated. "After the way you spared me and my siblings, and allowed some of our subordinates to survive as well…it would have felt dishonorable, I think, to leave you there to die."

Axl blinks at him, surprised by the answer. "Dishonorable," he echoes, then smiles. "Thanks, Harpuia."

Harpuia twitches, scowl deepening, and Axl can't help but wonder if anyone has ever thanked him for something before; probably not, if all he's done for the last few decades was Copy X's bidding. "Don't _thank_ me," the Guardian snaps, his tone almost defensive. "I didn't do it for your sake. It was for the benefit of Neo Arcadia," he adds. "We can't focus on fixing things if everyone is preoccupied with fighting you."

Axl ducks his head to hide the smile that's threatening to make itself known. "Okay," he says. "You do realize that someone at some point is going to wonder what happened to me, though," he feels obligated to point out.

Harpuia wrinkles his nose. "I am aware of that," he says flatly.

"And?" Axl prompts.

"And _nothing_ ," Harpuia retorts, glowering at him. "What happens to you from this point on is not my concern. I need to focus on Neo Arcadia, on protecting its citizens and ensuring their safety."

"That seems reasonable to me," Axl replies cheerfully. "I mean, you've already done plenty by getting me out of there; probably saved my life. Thanks again," he tacks on.

"Stop thanking me," Harpuia demands. "I didn't do it for your gratitude!"

"I know you didn't," Axl replies, "which is why I'm thanking you."

That seems to throw the Guardian for a loop, leaving him standing there with an expression that's halfway between outraged and befuddled; it's strangely endearing.

(It kind of reminds him the face X would make whenever Axl pranked Signas; he'd always been torn between stern lecturing and reluctant amusement at Axl's antics.)

Axl heaves himself to his feet with what feels like a disproportionate amount of effort for something as simple as standing up; his auto-repair systems have clearly been hard at work while he was unconscious, but even so it's going to take him quite some time to bounce back fully from the brutal fight against Copy X. "I'd better get going," he tells Harpuia now.

Harpuia hesitates, then gives a curt nod. "I must return to my duties as well," he says, lifting one hand in signal for Aztec Falcon to land. "Farewell…Maverick Hunter."

Axl gives a crooked grin. "See you around, Harpuia."

The Guardian snorts, but doesn't say anything else; instead he climbs onto Aztec Falcon and the two of them soar up into the air.

Axl watches them fly away until they're little more than a pinprick on the horizon, then turns his thoughts towards his own situation.

"I have no idea where I am," he realizes, and his voice comes out sounding both surprised and entertained. _Ah, well_ , he thinks. _It could be worse. I could be dead._

Given that, being lost in the desert isn't such a big deal.

(He still plans to get the hell out of this sandy wasteland as quickly as possible, though. Given his bad track record where deserts are concerned, staying in one longer than absolutely necessary seems like an invitation for trouble.)

* * *

Ciel hasn't heard from Axl in almost a full twenty-four hours.

She's starting to fear that she might never hear from him again.

To make matters worse, she can't even get any information on what's happening in Neo Arcadia right now; the entire place has gone into a communications lockdown for some reason, and not even her prodigious hacking skills are good enough to penetrate the new firewalls that have been put in place for cyber security.

It certainly doesn't help that her last conversation with Axl had been rushed and borderline nonsensical. First he'd gone charging into Cyberspace for some reason, declaring that he was going radio silent and would be back on task soon. Then, he'd come out of Cyberspace but refused to offer her any insight into what exactly had transpired there.

"It's kind of complicated," was all he'd said when she'd pressed him for an explanation. "I'll explain later, okay?" And then he'd gone charging deeper into Neo Arcadia, encountering Herculious Anchortus and getting embroiled in yet _another_ life-or-death battle.

(It makes her want to scream and throw things, because _she doesn't understand_. Who had Axl been talking to? Who had unlocked those security protocols for him?

No matter how she looks at it, she just can't figure it out. Each explanation she thinks of is more impossible than the last, until she's left frustrated and terrified and clutching at straws.)

She hasn't heard from him since that fight with Herculious. She'd been able to track his radio signal up to a certain point after that encounter, but after a while even that signal had vanished, leaving her with no idea what had happened to her friend.

She wants to believe that he's still alive, wants to believe that he's somehow achieved the impossible and will come waltzing back to their new base victorious, but…

But she's had her hopes shattered too many times now; she doesn't dare let herself hope too strongly, lest she find herself heartbroken and devastated all over again.

She's about to try hacking into Neo Arcadia's network for the seventy-eighth time when suddenly she gets a ping from her communications station.

There's a brief crackle of electricity, and then the speakers come to life. "Ciel? Ciel, are you there?"

She recognizes the voice; it's one of the sentries, she thinks, a young Reploid formerly designated ONB6 who now goes by Dande. "Yes, I'm here," she tells him. "What is it?"

"It's Axl, ma'am," Dande replies, sounding excited and awestruck in equal measure. "We just caught sight of him, approaching from the east! The guard captain estimates that he'll reach the main entrance in just under twelve minutes!"

Ciel's heart leaps in her chest, and for one moment the relief that surges through her entire body is enough to make her dizzy, light-headed with joy. "I'm on my way," she tells Dande, and dashes from the room before she can second-guess herself.

She hurtles through the base, eyes swimming with happy tears even as she bolts through the hallways towards the main entrance. There are shouts of concern from her comrades as she sprints past them, but she waves all their words aside, too overcome to do more than toss out vague assurances as she races to greet her friend.

She makes it outside just as Axl passes through the primary security checkpoint, and it gives her a chance to just _look_ at him as he's swarmed by the sentry guards, all of them congratulating him on his safe return and fussing over his injuries.

And the injuries _are_ substantial, Ciel notes with a pang of alarm; it reminds her of how battered he'd been after that fight with Fefnir and something like worry twists in her gut, sharp and sour.

But he's here. He's here, and he's standing, and he's _smiling_. Tired and weary, but with a spark of something in his eyes that she hasn't seen in a while.

Hope, maybe, and it's enough to make her start to cry again.

Axl notices her arrival, then, his gaze catching hers as she surges forward, reaching out to him.

"You came back," she says, voice cracking as she all but hurls herself at him, tears streaming down her face.

He gives a wide grin, eyes bright as he catches her in a hug. "I came home," he agrees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was that! Hope you liked it!
> 
> From here on out, we'll be moving into the events of MMZ2 (and eventually MMZ3) albeit with the same Axl-centric slant as the rest of this AU. And, of course, many more divergences from canon. ;D
> 
> That being said, I am going to be taking a little bit of a breather for a little bit. Don't be alarmed, though! It's not going to be an extended hiatus or anything like that; it's just that I'm taking a couple college classes this fall in addition to working full-time and I want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row, lol. I will absolutely continue working on this story in my free time (Chapter 22 is, in fact, already tentatively underway, although I am having a hell of a time writing Elpizo *insert frustrated pterodactyl screeching here*) and I look forward to sharing more of this AU with you guys in the near future! :D
> 
> Anyway, as things stand right now, I think I'll be transitioning from updating every week into updating every two weeks/every other week, just to make sure I'm giving myself enough time to work on my writing without compromising 1) the story itself and/or 2) the other areas of my life, like my career and my education. ;D What this means at this very moment is that the next update will be…*peeks at calendar* August 29th! (Possibly sooner if I am overcome with excitement, which is actually pretty likely, lol.)
> 
> In the meantime, I wish you all the best! See you soon! <3


	22. Chapter 22: Hiraeth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, my friends! I hope you've all been doing well these past couple weeks! A huge thanks as always for the great feedback on the last chapter! Thank you as well for all the well wishes I've been getting about my schooling and the understanding about the shift in the update schedule; your kind words mean a lot, so thank you very much!
> 
> In any case, I'm posting this chapter one day ahead of schedule because I just got full points on my first botany quiz and wanted to celebrate. You guys don't mind, right? ;D
> 
> Anyway, as mentioned previously, we've finished up with the events of the original MMZ game. This means that starting now (Chapter 22) we'll be moving into the happenings of MMZ2. Which is going to be so much fun!!!
> 
> That being said, I would like it to be known that writing Elpizo is REALLY HARD for me for some reason. I don't know what the problem is (it could be as simple as 'I don't like him' lol, who knows) but if parts of the chapter feel rough because of Elpizo's characterization or something, that is why, haha.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter! The beginning and the middle might be a bit rough, but the latter half of the chapter should be okie-dokie because I finally stumbled upon motivation at that point and promptly churned out an additional 2000+ words, which in the end probably ended up making this chapter one of the longest ones so far. Not bad for a chapter that I struggled so hard on, haha.

**Chapter 22:** **Hiraeth**

* * *

The first six months after Copy X's defeat pass by in something of a blur for Axl, who spends most of that time recuperating from the injuries he'd sustained during his one-man assault on Neo Arcadia.

The Resistance itself, meanwhile, is still struggling to regain some semblance of stability after being forced to evacuate to their current base after the original had been attacked; things are going better now, especially since they're not constantly under threat of being destroyed by Neo Arcadia, but things have been…hectic, to say the very least.

Especially since the Resistance itself is undergoing some adjustments where the leadership of the organization is concerned.

Ciel is, of course, still their primary leader. But with the threat of Copy X removed, she had recently made the decision to shift her focus from bringing down their enemy to solving the energy crisis that was still plaguing the world.

So now they have some guy named Elpizo in charge of things, managing the day-to-day operations while Ciel spends most of her waking hours in her research lab; Axl has only spoken with the guy a handful of times and subsequently hasn't seen enough of him to get a solid feel for him (Elpizo had first arrived at the base a month after Copy X's defeat, and other than two extremely brief visits to Axl during his stay in the healing ward the other Reploid hasn't sought him out for anything), but Ciel and the rest of the command staff have assured him that Elpizo is trustworthy.

"He used to work for the Administrative Services Bureau in Neo Arcadia," Cerveau had confided in him one night, after Axl had wandered into his engineering lab after trying and failing to overcome a bout of insomnia. "But he apparently rejected what he saw them doing and defected. Ciel seems to like him," he'd added almost as an afterthought.

"Ciel just likes him because he brought her that Baby Elf," Axl had replied lightly, dryly amused but otherwise accepting of the newest addition to the Resistance's command staff. After all, _he_ certainly doesn't want to be in charge of running things, and he respects Ciel's decision to step away from the position herself in the pursuit of a renewable energy source that can finally help restore the world and bring peace back between humans and Reploids.

There's still a little voice at the back of his head, nagging and suspicious, that warns against letting a largely untested Reploid be in charge of something as important as the Resistance, but…well, the Resistance isn't _as_ important as it had been six months ago.

Now that Copy X has been removed from the equation, Neo Arcadia isn't as much of a threat as before; they're still dangerous, of course, but a lot of their more aggressive activities have ceased, presumably on account of their own leadership upheavals.

It makes Axl wonder, sometimes, what Harpuia and the other Guardians have been up to these last few months; if they're trying to change Neo Arcadia into something better for everyone, or if they're carrying on the same as before.

He hopes that they're doing well regardless; they may have been his enemies before -may technically still be his enemies even now- but he's never wanted to see them suffer or get killed.

Part of him thinks that if things were different, in another lifetime or if their respective organizations weren't totally at odds, he and the Guardians could even become friends someday, or at least allies.

As things stand now, such a thing doesn't seem very likely, but. Well. Killing Copy X had supposedly been impossible, too, and yet Axl had pulled it off. So he's not willing to give up hope just yet.

He believes that someday he and the Guardians will be on the same side, just as he believes that someday X and Zero will have their bodies remade and rejoin the physical world instead of living out the rest of eternity in Cyberspace. Right now both things are impossible, but he has hope.

In the meantime, he just has to keep on working towards a better future, just as he has since Ciel first woke him up out of stasis.

Today, working towards a better future for some reason involves listening to Elpizo give a speech. Axl had planned to pay a visit to Cyberspace to check in with X and Zero (because other than a couple quick messages back and forth, he hasn't had much of a chance to speak with them since his assault on Neo Arcadia and that just isn't acceptable because he has _questions_ , dammit, and they're the only ones with answers) but Ciel had pleaded with him to attend the speech.

"You're one of the most important members of the Resistance," she'd told him, eyes wide and tone plaintive. "I would really appreciate it if you came and listened to his speech. He's still uncertain about his leadership skills," she'd added, "so your presence could really help give him some support."

Axl has only ever considered two people _his_ leader (three, if he counted Ciel) and Elpizo isn't counted among that number yet (not surprising, really, because Axl's standards for leadership are X and Red and maybe he's biased but he has yet to meet anyone else who meets those standards) but he figures that all things considered it's only polite to at least listen to what the guy has to say. Because by all accounts, Elpizo has been working his ass off to prove himself to the Resistance and build their organization back up to full strength after the way it had fallen into shambles after their hasty evacuation to a new base; given that, Axl can respect the amount of hard work the other Reploid has put in, even if he's not sure about him on a personal level.

(He's still a bit peeved about having to postpone his trip to Cyberspace, though.)

In any case, he lurks in the back of the room when the speech begins, content to watch from the shadows at the edge of the room rather than stand front and center; it turns out to be a good vantage point, letting him get a clear view of Elpizo as he addresses the room.

It's a nice enough speech, in Axl's opinion, if somewhat generic and vague; Elpizo thanks everyone for their hard work in completing the construction work on their new base, and promises that he will be working towards a 'new era of peace'. He also mentions a large-scale operation that he has in the works, but doesn't go into details, instead opting to lavish more praise on the rest of the Resistance for their efforts.

Axl applauds out of habit once the speech is over, and is about to leave the room when Ciel suddenly appears out of nowhere and loops her arm through his, tugging him towards Elpizo. "Ciel, what are you…?"

"You should at least greet him before you go disappearing off somewhere," she tells him, her tone amusement mixed with chastisement. "Besides," she adds, "I wanted to touch base with him about his plans moving forward and you should be involved in that conversation as well. Any major operations would likely require your involvement, after all."

Axl rolls his eyes but has to concede the point; as the Resistance's most powerful operative at the moment, he is indisputably involved in a lot of the important combat-related decisions. "Alright, fine," he grumbles. "But after that, I'm going. I do have other things I need to do today, you know."

Ciel pats him on the shoulder. "Yes, yes, I know. This won't take long, I promise." They reach Elpizo then, and Ciel greets the other Reploid with a warm smile. "That was a very good speech. You've improved a great deal when it comes to addressing everyone."

Elpizo assumes a bashful expression. "Ah, thank you. I have to admit, I'm still a little embarrassed when I think about being a commander. Are you really sure about this, Ciel? Trusting the fate of the Resistance to aReploid like me? I was only ever a low-level worker in the Administrative Bureau, after all. Surely there's someone better suited to leadership than me."

"Oh, nonsense," Ciel says, waving a hand dismissively. "You're suited to it perfectly well. I know it's a lot of pressure and a steep learning curve, but you're doing a great job. These last few months would have been much harder if you hadn't arrived to help when you did," she adds, gratitude thick in her voice.

"Oh, please, you're making me blush," Elpizo says, demurring her praise with a self-deprecating laugh. "Without the support of you and the rest of the command staff, I wouldn't be doing nearly so well."

Ciel laughs. "We'll have to agree to disagree, I suppose," she says. "Although I do want to remind you again that the Resistance was formed for the purpose of _defending_ ourselves against Neo Arcadia."

Elpizo laughs again, but this time there's a slight edge to it, so faint that Axl isn't sure Ciel even notices. "I take it this has to do with the operation I'm planing?" he asks, tone deceptively light.

"I couldn't help notice that you mentioned it in your speech," Ciel acknowledges. "I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page moving forward. Neo Arcadia has not been as aggressive in its operations lately," she adds. "With that in mind, I'm hoping to avoid any actions on our part that might trigger another escalation in violence."

"You don't need to worry about it so much, Ciel," Elpizo tells her, smiling in a manner that is clearly intended to be reassuring. "I remember the purpose of the Resistance, and I understand that our main goal at the moment is to buy time for you to complete your research and solve the energy crisis. But given the fact that they don't yet seem to have recovered from the loss of Copy X," he goes on, "we couldn't ask for a better opportunity than now."

Ciel gives a small sigh. "Elpizo…"

"Please, Ciel," Elpizo says now, "allow me to at least work on the preparations for it, perhaps perform some small preliminary missions. I promise to check with you before I authorize the operation itself," he assures her.

Ciel purses her lips, looking uncertain. "Very well," she says at last. "But keep me informed, please. I'd hate for things to devolve into open war between us and Neo Arcadia due to a…miscommunication."

"Yes, of course, I understand completely," Elpizo replies, flashing another winning smile. He glances over his shoulder as another Reploid calls his name. "Ah, well, if you'll excuse me, it seems I'm being summoned." He does a gentlemanly half-bow to Ciel, nods curtly to Axl, and then spins on his heel and strides away.

A long, tense moment passes before Axl finally caves and breaks the silence first. "…Want me to keep an eye on him?" he asks his friend. "Make sure he doesn't do anything that'll cause us trouble later on?"

Ciel takes a deep breath, and lets it out in a low sigh. "Leave him be for now," she decides. "He may be overeager when it comes to more aggressive maneuvers but he does seem to mean well, and I know you have other things you need to take care of. He'll probably need your help with some of those smaller missions sooner rather than later anyway," she reasons, a sharp glint in her eye, "so that will give you an opportunity to keep informed about his plans without making your observation of his activities obvious."

Axl smirks. "Look at you, being all clandestine and sneaky. I like it."

Ciel's worried expression fades, replaced by a shy smile as she chuckles. "Well, I learned from the best," she says cheerfully, and winks at him.

Axl grins. "Aww, thanks," he says, and promptly puts the issue of monitoring Elpizo aside for the moment because it doesn't seem particularly time-sensitive.

After all, Ciel is clearly content enough to let Elpizo do his own thing for the time-being while she focuses on her research.

Axl, meanwhile, has other things to think about besides whatever Elpizo's got planned next for the Resistance; he may not know the other Reploid very well, but he trusts Ciel and _she_ trusts Elpizo. For the moment, at least. Which means that he can turn his own attention other matters, much like how Ciel is refocusing herself on the energy crisis.

For Axl, that means getting back to his original mission, the mission he'd gone into stasis for all those long years ago.

He needs to figure out what happened to Weil, and whether or not the mad scientist who'd started the Elf Wars still poses a danger to the world.

(Axl's inclined to think yes, because even if he hasn't found any evidence of Weil since coming out of stasis that doesn't mean Weil isn't still around. It would be just like the creep to lurk in the shadows, biding his time until the right moment to strike came along.)

So Elpizo can work on his nebulous plans for how to deal with neo Arcadia; Axl has already contributed to that particular fight as much as he can for the moment, taking out Copy X when no one else could. He'll still take whatever missions the Resistance needs him to do, of course, but Now that the threat of Copy X has ben eliminated he's got bigger fish to fry.

Which means he's got to talk to X and Zero, and figure out what he missed during his stint in stasis.

"Ciel, I'll be heading out for a bit," he tells his friend now. "I'm not sure how long I'll be gone, but I should be back by tomorrow morning at the latest. Contact me through the comms if you need me back for anything before then," he adds.

Ciel gives a faint frown of concern before her expression clears. "Okay," she replies. "You'll let me know if you need anything?"

"Absolutely," he assures her.

"Alright," she says. "Be careful out there."

"I'll try," he says with a grin, and leaves the base.

He ends up at the lab where he and Ciel had first met, partially because it feels appropriate for what he's planning and partially just because it has the equipment necessary for opening a doorway into Cyberspace.

The Resistance base technically has all the necessary machinery as well, but all of that equipment is also accompanied by corresponding technicians who would want an explanation for why he wanted to pay a visit to Cyberspace, and. Well.

As much as part of him wants to announce to the world that the legendary heroes X and Zero are still alive -for a given definition of the term, at least- he has a feeling that keeping the knowledge of his friends' continued existence a secret is -from a tactical perspective- the better choice for the moment. They're his ace in the hole, so to speak, for advice and moral support is nothing else, and Axl isn't willing to risk losing that, losing _them_ , not for anything.

Ciel knows, of course, because they don't keep secrets from each other, but she'd promised to keep it a secret without him even needing to ask and he doesn't want to put her in the position of needing to lie to her subordinates if he requests to use Resistance equipment.

So he borrows a hoverbike and travels to the lab, and spends the better part of three hours jury-rigging the machinery there to create a portal into Cyberspace.

"We were wondering when you'd visit in person again," Zero says in greeting once Ax steps through into the strange digital limbo world. "And it looks like I was right. Pay up, X."

Axl narrows his gaze at his friends, looking between them suspiciously. "…did you place bets on when I'd be back?" he asks.

"Of course not," X says immediately.

"Because there's nothing _to_ bet here," Zero tacks on. "Although if there was, " he goes on, "I would have won."

X gives a little huff of laughter, shaking his head in amusement. "Always so competitive," he complains, but there's only fondness in his voice.

Axl, meanwhile, rolls his eyes. "Okay, whatever. Anyway, sorry I haven't visited in person since the whole Neo Arcadia thing." He rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "I wanted to come sooner, but Ciel didn't even let me leave the medbay until a couple weeks ago."

X's expression shifts into one of concern. "Don't push yourself too hard, Axl. I know you hate bedrest, but you need to take care of yourself. Especially after everything that's happened."

Axl shrugs, trying to project nonchalance even as he gives a bright smile that his friends can probably see straight through. "I know, I know. I'm doing alright now, though! I mean, yeah, the injuries were pretty severe, but I'm fine now so it's no big deal. Anyway," he goes on hastily, before ether one of them can call him out on his verbal dodge, "I distinctly remember you two jerks promising me some answers the last time we talked."

Zero acknowledges that with a nod. "So we did," he agrees. "What did you want to know about?"

"Oh, I don't know, only _everything_ ," Axl replies.

Zero snorts, one corner of his mouth curling up in an amused smirk. "Yeah, that's about what I expected from you."

Axl resists the temptation to stick his tongue out (if only barely). "Shut up," he says instead. "I was asleep for _literally centuries_ , cut me some slack."

Zero rolls his eyes, but relents. "Alright, fine," he says. "What did you want to know first?"

Axl has approximately a thousand and one questions, but he takes a deep breath and carefully sorts them according to priority. "Let's start small," he replies, "like with how you both ended up in Cyberspace."

"How is that starting small," Zero grumbles, but subsides when X gives him a Look. "Well, you know all about how X sacrificed his body to contain the Dark Elf, right?"

"I wouldn't say I know _all_ about it," Axl responds, "But I know enough, I guess." He has more questions about that, too, but for now holds his tongue about it. "Why? Are the two things related?"

Zero makes a so-so motion with one hand. "Yes and no," he says.

"After you went into stasis," X continues, "we did our best to figure out where Weil had disappeared to. I was preoccupied a lot of the time with matters relating to Neo Arcadia, so I couldn't do as much as I wanted," he adds, his tone somewhere between explanatory and apologetic. "The city was still in the early stages then, and there was so much work to be done. That left a lot of the work of searching for Weill to Zero."

"And? Did you ever find him?"

"We came close a couple of times," Zero says, shaking his head, "but we never did manage to pin him down. I did, however, manage to get myself caught in one of his traps," he adds, a note of bitter self-deprecation in his tone.

"I'm assuming that has something to do with how you ended up in Cyberspace?" Axl guesses, not liking where this conversation is going.

"You assume correctly," Zero says curtly.

X gives a heavy sigh. "Zero was investigating one of Weil's old bases when a security fail-safe was activated. It released some sort of specialized mechanical toxin into the air, something that corroded the critical components of his body."

Axl grimaces. "That doesn't sound good."

"No, it wasn't. Imagine a human getting poisoned by something that ate away at all of their internal organs; it was a bit like that."

Well, putting like that makes it _totally freaking horrifying_ , in Axl's honest opinion. "What the _hell_ ," is all he can manage to say, even after he's spent several moments trying to wrap his head around it.

"Yeah, I wasn't exactly thrilled with the situation myself," Zero comments dryly, a shadow of old remembered pain passing over his face before he buries it, like he always buries emotions that make him uncomfortable.

"We consulted with all the foremost experts at the time," X explains, "but not even the most brilliant scientists the Hunters enlisted could figure out a cure for Weil's toxin."

"I was planning to just have another replica body made, and have my consciousness transferred into it as a means of circumventing the issue entirely," Zero says now. "Like we did before, when those scientists needed my original body for their research. Unfortunately, the poison ate away at my core systems too quickly and there just wasn't enough _time_."

"So you uploaded your consciousness to Cyberspace instead," Axl realizes, all the pieces of that particular puzzle slotting into place with an almost nauseating level of clarity.

"We didn't tell anyone about that part of it," X explains, looking suddenly very tired. "We couldn't be sure who was trustworthy at that point, not when anyone could have been a spy for Weil. So aside from the one scientist who helped us set it all up, no one else ever found out the truth."

"It was safer that way," Zero adds. "Better for everyone to assume I was dead than have Weil try something else to get me out of the picture. Besides," he tacks on, "what happened to me made for a good test run for when X had to upload his own consciousness later on."

Axl turns all of the information over in his head a couple times, dissecting it and assessing it and then putting it all back together again to make sure everything adds up. "….Alright, I guess," he says at last. "I'm not at all happy that you guys had to go through any of that, and even less happy that I was sleeping at the time and not able to help, but at least I understand what happened now." Then something else occurs to him. "Is it reversible?" he asks curiously. "I mean, your consciousness is still that same as before, right? So if you were able to transfer yourself into Cyberspace all those years ago, would it be possible to transfer yourself back out again now?"

X and Zero give him matching frowns, both of them torn between consideration and confusion.

"It's a fairly complex situation," X says at last, expression thoughtful. "The biggest roadblock would be, of course, that we no longer have bodies. I mean, mine technically still exists, I suppose, but it's the only thing containing the Dark Elf. And Zero has no body to return to at all. And physically manifesting in the real world as we are now takes a considerable amount of power, as we told you before."

Axl nods, mind whirling at Mach 10. "No, yeah, I get that you can't just, uh, will yourselves into existence or anything like that. But what if…" He swallows hard. "What if a really brilliant scientist, for example someone who has _already_ demonstrated her ability to recreate highly advanced systems, felt like building you both new bodies? If there was a body waiting, a body created specifically for that purpose, could you transfer your consciousness into it? Like a reversal of how you came to Cyberspace in the first place?"

A long, _long_ moment of silence as his friends seem to process his words.

"You mean Ciel," X says at last, expression a peculiar mixture of hopeful and skeptical.

"Well, she did build a very convincing duplicate of _you_ ," Axl points out. "He may not have had your personality but he was absolutely a dead ringer in appearance and that's nothing to sneeze at. If anyone could make a new body for you, it would be Ciel. As for Zero…" Axl tips one shoulder in a shrug. "I would have to look around, but the schematics from the last time should still be around somewhere, right? I mean, I'd have to go digging around a lot of old abandoned labs and Hunter bases and stuff, not to mention find a way to source all the necessary materials for both bodies…but it could be done. I think. Maybe."

And honestly, the more he thinks about it, the more he likes the idea. His friends could come back to the real world, instead of spending the rest of eternity floating around Cyberspace.

(Ultimately, though, it's not up to him. He wants his friends back, of course, he wants that more than he's wanted anything in a very long time, but it's their choice in the end. For all he knows, maybe they prefer their new existence, removed from the physical world which had only ever brought them tragedy and pain.)

"Axl," X says, tone hesitant in a way that makes Axl extremely nervous, "it's a great idea. Really. But as much as we'd love to return to the real world, we couldn't possibly ask you to go to all that trouble."

Axl's nerves settle, if only a little. "You're not asking," he insists. "I'm offering. If Ciel could do it, is that something you would be interested in? You don't have to decide now," he adds hastily, because he doesn't want to push either of his friends for an answer now, not when the answer might not be yes.

(Not when the answer might leave Axl all alone in the physical world, with these visits to Cyberspace his only connection to his friends and their shared past.

It's selfish of him, he knows that, especially when having them back in any way at all is already a miracle beyond what he'd ever thought possible…but he wants them back, _really_ back. He wants them to go on missions together again, raising hell and watching each others' backs.

He wants things to go back to how they were before, at least a little bit.)

"I still have minor missions to run for the Resistance, and Ciel's been pretty busy with her research lately," he goes on, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "So it's not like it's time sensitive or anything. Just…think it over, okay?"

Zero rolls his eyes and cuffs him lightly on the head. "You're an idiot," he informs him, a faint smirk quirking up the side of his mouth. "X and I have been stuck in here for centuries. Of course we'd like to get back to the real world if it's an option."

"Especially if you're planning to track down Weil," X puts in. "You shouldn't do that alone, not if you're juggling all of your Resistance responsibilities as well. And don't say that you're not going after him," he adds warningly. "I know how you think and I saw that look on your face when we were talking earlier."

Axl gives an irritated huff but doesn't debate the point; X is right, after all, so there's no point in wasting time on a pointless argument. "Dealing with Weil is why I went into stasis in the first place," he reminds his friend instead. "The whole point of me sleeping through to the future is so that I'd be able to eliminate him if it was necessary. And since the sneaky psycho bastard is presumably still alive somewhere, obviously that is necessary. So."

X frowns at him. "My point stands, you shouldn't do it alone."

Now it's Axl's turn to roll his eyes. "X, relax, I'll be fine. It's reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering, both of which are my specialty if you'll , the Resistance has my back; I can utilize some of their resources if I have to, they won't mind."

"And if you do find Weil?" Zero asks, but there's something knowing in his gaze, like he's asking a question he already knows the answer to.

Axl, meanwhile, gives a grim smile. "Well, once upon a time I was the best assassin at Red Alert," he says dryly. "I'm sure I'll figure something out."

Zero snorts, but lets it go at that.

X, however, is frowning again, that particular frown he gets when he's torn between resignation and worry. "Make sure you're properly equipped before you go into any uncertain situation," he says after a moment of tense silence. "You still have the pistol you recovered from the stasis lab?"

Axl grimaces, remembering all too clearly the moment it had exploded in his hand; it had been worth it in the end, because without sacrificing his gun he would never have been able to finally take down Copy X, but still. "Unfortunately, no. It, uh…it was a casualty of my battle with your body double," he explains, tone rueful. "I had to overload the power output in order to penetrate his armor, and towards the end the gun just couldn't take the strain anymore."

X's frown turns more severe, something like sympathy creeping into his expression. "Axl, I'm sorry," he says, and it's clearly sincere.

The sympathy isn't surprising, since anyone who's ever known Axl knows how much he absolutely loved his pistols, how he'd painstakingly customized and maintained them throughout both his time with Red Alert and his entire Maverick Hunter career, but as much as Axl misses the one he had managed to recover he's had a few months now to get used to the idea of its absence.

(He has yet to either find or craft a suitable replacement, and that's more than a little frustrating, but for now he's not tripping over powerful enemies left, right, and center so he can afford to settle for less powerful firearms borrowed from the Resistance armory.

He's not happy about it, of course, but things could definitely be worse so he's trying to maintain a little perspective.)

So all he does is shrug. "It was a good trade," he says, because it's true. One pistol in exchange for stopping Copy X is more than a fair exchange, all things considered. "I miss having such a dependable weapon, but at the end of the day it's not the end of the world."

"Well," Zero interjects, "if I'm remembering correctly, that pistol was one of a pair, right?"

Axl scowls at him. "You know it was," he says flatly, not sure where Zero is going with this line of conversation.

Zero's smirk grows, and he tips his head towards X. "Well, while you're here why don't you ask _him_ where he's got the second one stashed? It would be a bit of a detour, but you said yourself that the Resistance doesn't need your help as urgently lately; a little field trip to pick up your other pistol wouldn't cause a big ruckus, right?"

Axl stands there staring dumbly at him for what feels like a small eternity. "…That did not even occur to me," he admits after a moment, torn between chagrin and embarrassment. " _Why_ did that not occur to me?"

"Well, you have had a lot on your mind," X offers charitably, giving Axl a fond look.

Axl makes a face at him, very deliberately ignoring Zero's chuckle of amusement. "Where's my other pistol, X?"

X warm expression shifts into a small, sad smile. "It was originally in Neo Arcadia," he replies, "but I moved it somewhere else shortly before I sacrificed my body to seal away the Dark Elf. I wanted it to be in a secure location," he explains at Axl's confused expression, "just in case something went awry after my absence became common knowledge and anyone came looking for any equipment left behind."

"Moved it to where?" Axl asks, curious about where X would have considered more secure than Neo Arcadia at the time. Granted, Neo Arcadia had still been a young settlement then, but none of them could have guessed it would have turned into a dystopian dictatorship. Hell, If Axl had been asked back then, even he would have conceded that his second pistol would have probably been fine deep within the former utopia's inner sanctum.

(Of course, now he's immensely grateful that X _had_ changed his mind and moved ti elsewhere, because he _really_ doesn't want to infiltrate Neo Arcadia twice. He still has nightmares about the first time, after all.)

"I took it to the Crimson Palace," X says, and his tone turns apologetic when Axl sucks in a sharp breath at his words. "I know it'll be difficult for you, emotionally, to go there," he tells Axl, voice gentle. "But even ruined that fortress has formidable defenses; it was the safest place I could think of to put your pistol on short notice."

Axl takes a moment to process that. The old abandoned base of Red Alert had been little more than a dilapidated ruin even _before_ he'd gone into stasis, having been uninhabited ever since Axl had turned on his former comrades and brought the entire organization crashing down. And that's not even factoring in the damage that had happened from the self-destruct measure Red had activated, which had reduced a third of the compound into little more than rubble.

(Axl had visited the ruins of the Palace a time or two, back during his Maverick Hunter career, usually when he was feeling lost or confused or frustrated and needed to revisit the place that had helped shape him into who he was. It was depressing for him to see the place he'd considered his home empty and crumbling, but it had helped ground him too, helped him get perspective. And X and Zero had always shown up inevitably, traipsing through the rubble until they found him and made sure he was okay and not mired in his own thoughts for too long.)

But it's true that the defenses are formidable, or at least they _had been_ ; the location of the base is remote in addition to being top-secret, and difficult to even get to if a person doesn't know precisely the right approach; the only reason X and Zero had been able to get in so easily to confront Red was because Axl had been with them, and had known just how to get in without triggering approximately two hundred different traps that were designed to keep out intruders.

The Crimson Palace itself is undoubtedly in shambles now (presumably even more so than the last time Axl saw it, given that hundreds of years have gone right on by), but a fair number of those traps should still be still active; Axl had shown X and Zero how to circumvent them years and years ago, back when they'd all still been corporeal, but anyone else wouldn't be able to bypass them (and quite frankly probably wouldn't even bother to _try_ , not when the only thing to be gained was access to a clearly wrecked base with seemingly nothing of value inside).

And Even with all the damage, he remembers that certain parts of the Crimson Palace _had_ still been intact, including not just certain mundane facilities like the med-bay and a communications room but also some of the inner vaults where valuable commodities had been stored during Red Alert's heyday.

Vaults that Axl had technically still had access to. vaults that he'd told X and Zero about, giving them the codes not long after becoming a Maverick Hunter in case they'd wanted to recover any of the equipment or intel stored within the vaults. Vaults that no one else other than Axl, Zero, or X would be able to access, especially not centuries later when the world barely even remembers the Maverick Hunters, much less a rival organization that had been wiped out before the Elf Wars had even begun.

Vaults that X apparently _had_ remembered, and used.

"Thanks," he says roughly, and means it. It won't be precisely _comfortable_ to visit the Crimson Palace, but he can handle it. Hell, it might even be good for him, after all this time. And at the very least he'll be able to get his other pistol. "I'll make that my next stop."


	23. Chapter 23: The Forest of Dysis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, my friends! I hope you're all doing well! The last two weeks were a bit of a roller coaster for me, but everything's good now and I'm so excited to finally post another chapter of this story for everyone. :D
> 
> (Also, I am once again super behind on responding to everyone's comments/reviews, but I do read them all and they make me so happy, you guys are THE BEST.)

**Chapter 23: The Forest of Dysis**

* * *

Axl cannot, of course, go haring off into the wilderness, no matter how badly he wants to go to the Crimson Palace right now to retrieve his last remaining pistol.

He's an important member of the Resistance, after all, and aside from that, lately everyone's been a little more prone to worry when he vanishes without a trace or falls out of communication without explanation.

(Ciel has been uncharacteristically unsympathetic the few times he's complained about it.

"Considering all the times you've been critically injured or almost been presumed dead," she'd said the last time he'd brought it up, "you're lucky I don't assign someone to monitor you full-time."

Axl had sputtered indignantly out of general principle, but had eventually been force to acknowledge that she had a point.)

So no, he can't just go off on his own without letting someone know, lest he touch off some sort of worry-induced hysteria among the ranks of the Resistance.

Bearing that in mind, he returns to base for the time-being, so he can check in with Ciel and figure out the logistics of traveling to the Crimson Palace.

Unfortunately, before he can make it to Ciel's laboratory, he's waylaid by Ethos, one of Elpizo's top soldiers and closest advisors.

"Sorry to bother you, sir," the dark-haired Reploid says, not looking very sorry at all, "but the Commander wanted me to speak to you right away upon your return."

"Speak to me about what?" Axl asks, torn between wary suspicion and reluctant curiosity.

"A mission, sir," Ethos replies.

"A mission," Axl repeats, and tries to gauge more about what _kind_ of mission from the other Reploid's expression.

Ethos has a good poker face, though, just like his partner Pathos. "Commander Elpizo is waiting to speak with you," he tells Axl now, face a mask of politeness. "He will give you the pertinent details."

Axl restrains himself from sighing, but only barely. "Alright, I'd better go talk to him, then," he says, and heads for the command room where Elpizo is standing in front of a computer monitor with an intense expression.

"I was told you wanted to talk to me about a mission?" Axl says by way of greeting as he enters the room.

"Ah, yes!" Elpizo straightens from the screen he's leaning over and gives Axl a tired smile that doesn't quite reach hi eyes. "You'll have to accept my apologies for needing the help of an important hero such as yourself, but given how few capable operatives we have available at the moment I was hard-pressed for who else to speak to about this matter."

 _Thirty words where five would do_ , Axl thinks, amused and irritated in equal measure at what seems to be a half-hearted apology wrapped in an attempt to butter him up. "What kind of mission is it?" he asks, hoping that a direct question might -for once in his life- merit a direct answer.

"A rescue, unfortunately," Elpizo replies, mouth turning down into a frown. "We've lost contact with one of our reconnaissance teams. They were sent to scout around the ruins in the Forest of Dysis," he elaborates, "but they missed the last five scheduled check-ins. I'm very sorry to trouble you with such a small matter," he finishes, "but I was hoping you would be able to look into the situation, and rescue them should it be necessary."

Axl doesn't classify a whole team of scouts going missing a 'small matter', but decides that belaboring that particular point of contention will only waste valuable time that could be spent actually helping the people that need it. "From the way you're describing the situation," he says, " rescue sounds pretty necessary. Let me get a weapon from the armory," he continues, because he _definitely_ doesn't have time to go to the Crimson Palace to retrieve his pistol now, not with the lives of Resistance soldiers on the line, "and then I'll speak to Rouge and Jean to arrange transportation to Dysis. I'll scour the area for our operatives, and then bring them back to base once I find them."

"Good luck," Elpizo offers, already turning back to his computer console as Axl strides from the room.

* * *

The Resistance's navigators transport him to a clearing in the middle of a forest so vast that the trees stretch far off into the distance, blanketing the horizon. It's something of a marvel, really, especially given how devastated and barren other sections of the planet are, but then again nature always has a way of reclaiming patches of land once the former inhabitants are gone.

"This place seems pretty wild," his Cyber Elf remarks, hovering just above his shoulder.

"Yeah, it does," Axl agrees, slanting a smile in Totten's direction. "You sure you want to tag along?" he asks lightly. "It's not too late to transport yourself back to base if you're having second thoughts."

Totten scrunches his face up in an annoyed expression that highlights his adolescence. "No way!" he replies, tone indignant. "I'm not letting you leave me behind again, not this time. I told you that I was going with you on your next mission, and I meant it!"

Axl chuckles, and tweaks his little friend's hat affectionately. "I know, I know, I'm just teasing," he says, a feeling of warmth spreading through his chest.

He's always nervous about taking Totten on missions, because the thought of the adolescent Cyber Elf getting hurt in battle makes him almost twitchy with worry, but just before he'd gone to Neo Arcadia to confront Copy X his little Cyber elf partner had declared that he would accompany Axl on his next mission and Axl had agreed.

Totten huffs at him, but subsides with a grumble, his curious gaze shifting away from Axl to survey their surroundings instead. "How many people from the scout team have gone missing in here?"

"All five of them," Axl replies, glancing around before he picks a direction at random and starts traipsing through the trees.

"Its going to be hard to locate anyone in terrain like this," Totten observes worriedly, looking pointedly at the tall trees and thick underbrush.

Axl hums in acknowledgment, but otherwise doesn't respond, too intent on trekking through the forest and looking for any sign of the missing scouts.

Totten, thankfully, is used to him occasionally lapsing into silence whenever he's hyper-focused on something and so doesn't take offense at the sudden lapse in conversation; instead, he just floats along behind Axl, occasionally zooming off to investigate a rustle in the undergrowth but otherwise sticking close.

They find the first missing Resistance scout after about twenty minutes; he's sprawled underneath one of the many massive tress, his back to the trunk as he alternates between clutching at his wounded leg in pain and clutching at his weapon out of hyper-vigilance.

"Am I glad to see you, sir," the soldier says as Axl comes over, relief thick in his voice. "I was starting to think no one was ever going to come for us."

"Sorry it took so long," Axl says, kneeling down to assess the other Reploid's injury. "How're you feeling?"

"Been better, sir. Then again I've been worse, too," the soldier adds with a lopsided smile.

Axl snorts, amused despite the circumstances. "A feeling I'm very familiar with," he comments dryly before helping the scout to his feet. "Alright, here's a transponder beacon. You can activate it like this-" he shows the guy where the appropriate button is for activation "-and it'll transport you straight back to base, okay? There will be a medical team standing by once you arrive, and they'll get you fixed up in no time."

A look of immense gratitude washes over the scout's face. "Thank you, sir," he says. "I really appreciate it."

"You don't need to thank me," Axl says, vaguely embarrassed.

"Sorry to disagree with you, sir," the Reploid says firmly, "but I do. So thank you." Then he hesitates, chewing on his lower lip thoughtfully before speaking again. "Sir, if you don't mind me asking, what about our original mission? To locate the Baby Elf?"

"Baby Elf?" Axl echoes, his mind going almost alarmingly blank for a moment before it kicks back into high gear. "What exactly was your mission here?" he asks, forcing his voice to come out calm and casually interested.

The scout frowns faintly, then shrugs. "Commander Elpizo sent my team here to investigate something called a Baby Elf," he explains. "I guess it's one of a pair? Anyway, he wanted us to locate it and retrieve it. But we ran into Neo Arcadian troops not long after we arrived here," he added, frown twisting into a scowl. "From the sound of it, they're here for the Baby Elf, too."

Axl files that information away for future reference, and claps the scout lightly on the shoulder. "Thanks for letting me know," he says sincerely. "It's nice to be kept in the loop."

It would have been even better if _Elpizo_ had deigned to inform him of this whole Baby Elf thing (especially since 'one of a pair' implies a connection to the Baby Elf that's currently in _Ciel's_ possession), but there's nothing Axl can do about that now so there's no point in letting his thoughts linger on it for too long. there's work to do still, after all; those other Resistance scouts won't rescue themselves.

"You go ahead and use that beacon to return to base," he tells the scout now. "I'll find your other teammates and see what I can do about the Baby Elf."

"Understood," the soldier replies with a nod as he hits the appropriate button on the beacon. "Thank you, sir." Then he disappears in a wash of light as he's transported back to base.

Axl remains where he is for a moment, thinking.

"...Elpizo never said anything about a second Baby Elf," Totten offers after a moment, voice tentative and uncertain.

"No," Axl mutters, "he didn't. I wonder why?"

It's entirely possible, Axl reasons, that Elpizo simply hadn't considered it important, not when the priority of Axl's mission is rescuing the scout team rather than retrieving the Baby Elf itself. And in fairness, Elpizo had mentioned that the Reploids in question were being sent to search the Dysis ruins. He just hadn't said what they were searching the ruins _for_.

Axl is starting to feel like it may have been an oversight on his part not to ask, and resolves to poke at Elpizo a little harder for information upon his return to headquarters.

In the meantime, however… "Let's keep moving," he says now, flashing a quick reassuring smile in Totten's direction before delving deeper into the forest. "We still have four more Reploids to rescue."

(And a Baby Elf to locate, but Axl will deal with that once he's certain the other Resistance operatives are safe.)

Axl and Totten manage to navigate through the twisting trees and eventually they reach the overgrown ruins that are nestled in the heart of the forest. They locate another three Resistance scouts, all of them in varying states of imminent peril. One is dangling over a spike pit (Totten uses his special ability to render the trap harmless, and once that's taken care of it's a simple enough matter for Axl to use his hover jets to pluck the scout out and drop him on solid ground), one is trapped behind a thick block of stone (a _very heavy_ block of stone, as Axl discovers when he has to shove it out of the way), and the third is sheltered in a small alcove, hiding from a swarm of Mechaniloids that seem to resemble very aggressive wasps.

(The wasp-drones are, thankfully, the easiest thing to deal with; all it takes is some well-placed shots with the plasma rifle he'd borrowing from the Resistance armory and there's that sorted.)

"Thanks for saving me," the fourth member of the scout team says, emerging from the alcove. "I was about to give up hope."

"I'm glad you're alright," Axl says in response, handing over yet another transponder beacon. "I don't suppose you know where the last guy in your squad went?" he tacks on.

The Reploid gestures deeper into the ruins. "He thought he spotted the Baby Elf, so he chased after it. I got waylaid by those drones, so I couldn't follow him. I lost sight of him after that since I had to take cover," he adds apologetically.

Axl dismisses the apology with a wave. "Ah, don't worry about it, you did fine. I'll find him and get him home safe."

"Thanks," the scout says, and then he too teleports back to base, leaving just Axl and Totten in the ruins, along with whatever waits for them up ahead.

"Well," Axl says after a moment of silence that is broken only by the sound of birds in the tree canopy above them, "let's sally forth then, shall we?"

Totten snickers at him a little but comes to rest on his shoulder. "Let's," he agrees.

As luck would have it, they stumble upon the final member of the scout team sooner rather than later.

Fortunately, he is relatively unharmed and even has the Baby Elf he'd gone chasing after.

Unfortunately, he's also cornered by what seems to be a fairly high-ranking member of the Neo Arcadian army, a Mutos Reploid that Axl vaguely recognizes from his dossiers as someone belonging to Phantom's squadron.

Hyleg Ourobuckle, Axl thinks he's called. Also known as the Shinobi Serpent, and Axl can't help but be amused by the ninja-warrior theme that Phantom has clearly cultivated in his troops.

(He tries not to think about how _absolutely furious_ Phantom would be if he could see Axl's amusement, but it's difficult. Especially since, out of all the Guardians, Phantom is perhaps the one who actually truly hates Axl.

Granted, Axl's not precisely on good terms with _any_ of them, but he and Harpuia parted ways amicably enough the last time (especially considering the fact that Harpuia had _saved his life_ , even though he'd bristled at Axl's attempts to thank him for it) and he's confident that while Leviathan and Fefnir probably want to kick his ass, they likely don't want him _dead_.

Phantom, though? Phantom _despises_ him. And Axl _tries_ to not let that bother him, he really does.

But it's hard sometimes, because the Four Guardians were made to work under X, to serve alongside the greatest of the Maverick Hunters and help rebuild the world into a peaceful utopia in the wake of the Elf Wars.

Because the Guardians hadn't been completed and awoken before X had sacrificed himself to seal away the Dark Elf, but sometimes Axl can't help but wonder _What If_.

What if things had gone differently, and the Guardians had been able to fulfill their _true_ duties, instead of being enforcers for a megalomaniacal clone of X.

What if things had gone as planned, and the Four Guardians had been able to work alongside the last three Maverick Hunters, all seven of them on the same side and working towards the same goal of peace.

Axl tries not to think about those what ifs very often, because the more he does the more he realizes that thinking about all those lost possibilities _hurts_.)

"Give me that back and perhaps I'll let you live," Hyleg Ourobuckle says now to the final scout Reploid, his sibilant voice dragging Axl's thoughts back to the moment at hand.

Axl doesn't waste any more time, just primes his plasma rifle and fires off a warning shot; it grazes Hyleg's head, forcing him to rear back with a hiss, snake-like fangs gleaming in the afternoon light.

"Hurry up and get out of here," Axl tells the scout, tossing him the final transponder beacon. " _Now._ "

To his credit, the recon soldier doesn't hesitate, just grips the Baby Elf tighter to his chest and activates the beacon to teleport out. He's gone a moment later, leaving just Axl, Totten, and Hyleg Ourobuckle.

The fight that follows is (to put it bluntly) a hectic, frantic mess. Hyleg is furious that he lost his chance to capture the Baby Elf, and it shows as he lunges at Axl, spewing _actual poison_ as he attacks. Totten does his best to distract the Mutos Reploid, zooming in and around their enemy, but Hyleg's long clawed arms give him plenty of reach, and after Totten is nearly swatted out of the air for the fifth time, Axl orders him to fall back to a safer position.

Totten doesn't argue, thankfully, and retreats up into the forest canopy instead, where he calls out warnings to Axl whenever he catches sight of Hyleg setting up any sort of underhanded attack (like when he flings out those strange electrified springs that bounce around the ruins like demented slinkies; Axl quickly comes to dislike them _immensely_ , if only because they are an unequivocal _nuisance_ ).

Axl has to give credit where it's due, though; Phantom has trained Hyleg Ourobuckle very well, and it shows not just in his techniques, but also his tenacity. The snake-themed Reploid doesn't let up at all during the course of their battle, and it reminds Axl of Phantom, of how the Guardian had fought the same way, never relenting.

(Of how the Guardian _fights_ the same way, Axl reminds himself firmly, deliberate in his use of the present tense because Phantom is very much still alive. He hasn't seem the Guardian since that fateful day in Neo Arcadia, but he's read enough recent reports on Neo Arcadian activity to know that Phantom is still an active presence in their command ranks, along with his siblings.)

At the end of the day, however, Axl is a veteran of two wars and has more combat experience than any modern Mutos Reploid can shake a stick at. Hyleg is skilled, and more than that he's devious, but Axl is a Maverick Hunter with years of battle experience at his disposal and so the outcome of the fight is a bit of a foregone conclusion despite the inherent peril that every fight brings.

In the end, Axl brings the fight to a close by collapsing a portion of the ruins on top of his opponent. Not entirely honorable, perhaps, but Axl has always been more on the pragmatic side and he's not above burying his enemy in half a ton of rubble if it wraps up the battle more quickly.

Besides, this way Axl doesn't have to outright kill Hyleg and make Phantom hate him even more. Instead, Hyleg is simply trapped for the time-being; his sturdy armor plating will keep him mostly undamaged even as the heavy stones and broken pillars trap him in place and leave him unable to fight any longer.

"Come on, Totten," Axl calls out once he's certain that the Shinobi Serpent won't be escaping on his own anytime soon. "Let's go home."


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, welcome back! Thank you as always for the fabulous feedback on the previous chapter! You guys are awesome!
> 
> Anyway, this chapter starts off with Axl and then switches to Harpuia so we can see a little bit of what's going on over in Neo Arcadia these days.
> 
> (Also, to my great regret, I could not for the life of me think of a good title for this chapter, lol. I'll add one in later if something comes to mind, but for now I've decided that posting the actual chapter is what matters, title or not, so here we are. ;D)

**Chapter 24**

* * *

Axl's return to the Resistance base is heralded with much applause and congratulations, with everyone patting him on the back and singing his praises for not only finding all the missing recon soldiers in the Dysis ruins and the surrounding forest, but also returning them all home safely.

Axl bears the hubbub with good grace, particularly since it dissipates quickly enough once everyone seems to remember that they have their own duties to be attending to.

Axl, meanwhile, feels like a little talk with the Resistance's new Commander is warranted, given the circumstances.

So he goes to seek out Elpizo.

"Congratulations on your safe return," the commander says in greeting as Axl strides into the command center. "And thank you again for going to rescue the missing scouts."

"You don't need to thank me," Axl responds honestly, because he's never needed to be thanked for saving lives. Then, because he has to ask, "I was hoping you could tell me a little bit more about the mission those scouts were originally given, though? Something to do with that Baby Elf?" he prompts when all Elpizo does is look at him with a politely confused expression.

"Ah, yes." Elpizo assumes a bashful expression and gives a nervous laugh. "I assigned that more out of sentiment than anything, I'm afraid," he replies.

"Care to elaborate?" Axl asks, because he's hardy going to let his question be brushed aside so easily.

Elpizo's smile tightens slightly, but his voice doesn't falter. "Well, as you know, the first Baby Elf I gifted to Ciel originally came from Neo Arcadia. But what I forgot to mention at the time," he goes on, "was that there were originally _two_ Baby Elves in that vault."

"Two Baby Elves," Axl repeats, arching an eyebrow. "And you didn't say anything about this before because…?"

Elpizo gives a slight shrug. "I couldn't take both of them when I made my escape, so the second one simply escaped when I opened the vault," he explains. "Honestly, I was content to never think of the matter again, especially given how preoccupied I've been with Resistance matters. But Ciel mentioned recently that she's been getting very interesting data from her research on the Baby Elf she already has, and that made me want to retrieve the second one. For the sake of her energy research, of course."

"Of course," Axl echoes, and pastes an understanding smile onto his face. "Well, anyway, I'm happy I could help. If you need my assistance with anything else, just let me know," he adds, injecting some friendly cheerfulness into his voice. "I'll be away on a personal errand for the next couple days, but I'll be available to run missions again once I get back."

"I'll let you know if anything comes up," Elpizo assures him, then turns away in what is clearly a dismissal.

The temptation to roll his eyes is tremendous, but Axl manages to resist the urge. Instead he pivots around and leaves the command room.

He drops off Totten in his room since his little Cyber Elf partner is clearly worn out from their mission, and then wanders through the base for a while, thoughts racing.

Part of Axl is simply relieved at a mission well done, is glad to have the scout team returned to base safely and with no serious injuries to boot.

Part of him is still wary, though, still guarded. And he's pretty sure it's almost entirely due to the Baby Elf that had been brought back to base, the same Elf that the scout team had apparently been tasked with finding.

Because Axl knows about the Dark Elf, and he has what he personally considers an average understanding of ordinary Cyber Elves. But up until about six months ago, though, he'd never heard of a Baby Elf, and that makes him uneasy for reasons he can't quite pinpoint.

And now, for Elpizo to be showing such interest in them? In these Baby Elves that no one seems to understand, that had been locked up within a vault deep inside Neo Arcadia before Elpizo had defected, stealing one and letting the second escape?

It makes him...not quite _fully_ suspicious, but something very close. Wary, perhaps, with a touch a resolve.

He's going to find out what exactly these Baby Elves are and why Elpizo seems to have such a keen interest in them. Why Elpizo, the new Commander of the Resistance, had dedicated valuable resources to finding that second Elf when supposedly all he cared about was furthering the goals of the Resistance.

He doesn't have the resources necessary to find the answers on his own, though, or the time for it even if he did. He's got too much on his plate right now to add this to the list; between the missions he's going to be running for the Resistance and the personal forays out into the world to collect materials for X and Zero's new bodies that he's got planned, he just _can't_.

Luckily, he knows someone who can.

"What brings you all the way down here to my lab?" Ciel asks when he walks through her doorway. "Didn't you just get back from a mission?"

"I did," he acknowledges, scruffing a hand through his hair as he struggles to find the words for what he wants to ask.

Ciel frowns at him from her worktable. "You're making that face," she informs him, somewhere between reproving and amused. "What's wrong?"

Axl huffs out a short laugh, because he should know better than to beat around the bush with Ciel; he's good at hiding his feelings, but they've been friends long enough for her to know when he's holding something back, even if she doesn't know what that something is. "It kind of related to the mission I just came back from," he says after a moment of consideration. "Elpizo told you that I discovered a Baby Elf along with that lost scout team?"

Ciel gives a faint frown, clearly confused. "Yes, he did," she admits. "He says he's going to bring it right down to me, just as soon as his security team is done scanning it for any potential hazards or contaminants that might endanger the other Baby Elf I have here." She gestures over her shoulder to the first Baby Elf, the one that Elpizo had gifted to her after first joining the Resistance.

Axl has a feeling that Elpizo isn't scanning that second Elf so much as poking and prodding at it himself for whatever reasons he has, but he keeps that opinion to himself for now; no use getting Ciel worked up over what might turn out to be nothing more than his own paranoid suspicions, after all. "Well, I was hoping you could let me know what you've found out about them so far. The Baby Elves, I mean."

Ciel's frown deepens. "Honestly, not much. Not yet, at least. I've been so preoccupied with my energy research that I haven't had much time for an in-depth examination," she offers in explanation. "But the scans I've done so far on the Baby Elf I have here show that it has a unique energy signature, unlike any other Cyber Elf I've ever seen. It's almost as if it's a breed apart from the rest," she says thoughtfully, tapping her fingers absently along the edge of her worktable.

"A special sort of Elf, like nothing you've ever seen before," Axl concludes, not sure he likes the sound of that. He certainly doesn't like that Elpizo is seemingly so interested in something with so many unknowns surrounding it. Or rather, them, since now there are apparently two Baby Elves that Axl is going to have to worry about. "Listen," he tells Ciel now, "would you do me a favor?"

"Yes, of course," Ciel says immediately, not even hesitating for a second. "What do you need?"

"I…I know you're busy with your energy research," he says, "and believe me, I know how important all of that stuff is. But could you…look into the Baby Elves, maybe? Just…run a few more tests, let me know what you find?"

"Sure, I can do that," Ciel replies, frowning again. "But why?"

"I'm not sure," he says honestly. "It's more of a hunch than anything, really. I just feel like there's more to these Baby Elves than meets the eye. I'd like to know what that is, just in case, you know?"

Ciel purses her lips as she regards him, then gives a small sigh. "Okay," she says at last. "I can't say that I understand what has you so worried, because the Baby Elf I have here hasn't behaved strangely in any way, but I've known you long enough to appreciate your hunches. I'll run some tests on this one, and on the second one once Elpizo brings it down, and I'll let you know what I find. I might not be able to get to it right away," she adds warningly. "Like we talked about already, I have some energy projects going on right now that are at critical stages and very time-sensitive. But I'll do my best to make the Baby Elf research a top priority as well."

"That's all I can ask," Axl says, gratitude welling up in his chest. "Thank you, Ciel."

Ciel gives him a tired smile, eyes warm. "You're welcome. Now, is there anything else you need before I get back to work?"

Axl thinks about his plan to get X and Zero out of Cyberspace and back into the real world, and debates whether to tell her about it or let it be for now. He's already asking a lot of Ciel these days, after all, and he's hesitant to pile on even more stress, especially since he still needs to not only find the old schematics for Zero's last replacement body but also locate materials for _both_ bodies. There might not be any point in telling her now, when he isn't positive if his goal can even be accomplished.

He and Ciel have a policy of honestly between them, though, a promise of no secrets unless absolutely necessary. And he has a feeling that him planning to get two legendary heroes back into the real world would be considered a pretty big secret if he neglected to share it with her. And not only would she be mad at him, she'd make that _face._

"Well, now that you mention it," he says, deciding what the hell, he might as well go all in at this point, "I did have this crazy idea I wanted to run by you…"

(He can't decide if it's gratifying or alarming when Ciel patiently listens to his plan and then promptly keels over in a dead faint once he's finished speaking.)

* * *

Harpuia listens to the recitation of the mission report patiently, and then dismisses the soldier in question before turning to the dark-armored Reploid seated at his side.

"How is Hyleg Ourobuckle doing?" Harpuia asks.

Phantom gives a derisive snort, but there's no missing the faint look of worry in his gaze; for all his sharp edges and harsh words, the commander of the Cutting Shadows Squadron has always been just as protective of his warriors as Harpuia is of his. It's one of the few things they have in common with one another, even now when they're not precisely getting along. "Hyleg will be fine," he replies curtly. Then, somewhat grudgingly, "Thank you for asking."

(Phantom still resents him, Harpuia thinks, for siding with the Maverick Hunter Axl and refusing to let him die on that fateful day six months ago. Because Axl had stopped Phantoms' kamikaze attack, that's true, but _Harpuia_ is the one who dragged Phantom off for medical attention to ensure his survival, and the one who had barely let Phantom out of his sight for the next four and a half weeks out of fear that his brother would repeat the suicide attempt.

Because Phantom still seems upset that his chance for a glorious sacrificial death in battle was seemingly stolen from him. And Harpuia for his part has given up trying to explain that the very last thing he wants is for one of his siblings to die such a pointless death, and so they've reached an impasse of sorts, where they're not actively fighting with one another but also not as in sync as they used to be.

Harpuia feels a little badly for Fefnir and Leviathan, who are stuck in the perilous position of being caught in the middle while he and Phantom feud, but he's hardly going to apologize for wanting to keep his brother alive so it is what it is.

He hopes that someday soon Phantom will get some sense knocked into him and be able to view the situation with a little more perspective, but until then he's resigned himself to getting professional courtesy from his little brother rather than familial affection.)

Harpuia gives a small sigh, relieved even as exhaustion weighs him down.

He and his siblings have been doing their best to keep Neo Arcadia fully functional in the wake of their former Master's death ( _their former_ _ **dictator's**_ _death_ , a voice in the back of his mind whispers, and it sounds suspiciously like Axl), but it's been a stressful scramble from the very beginning. Things have been utter chaos since word of X's - _Copy_ X's- demise had spread amongst the people of Neo Arcadia, and even six months after their leader's death Harpuia still feels like he's trying to catch his breath.

It doesn't help that there are different factions arising within Neo Arcadia now, each one with a different goal or desire. Some want peace, others want war with the Resistance. Others still want to claim leadership of Neo Arcadia for themselves, and while Harpuia and his siblings would never allow that to happen it's still been a hassle to deal with those dissidents.

For the most part, Harpuia and his siblings have managed to keep things in order. To keep the power plants running to supply energy to the civilian districts, to keep the hydroponics facilities operational so that none of the human populations starve, to keep all the critical functions of Neo Arcadia up and running so that none of their infrastructure collapses.

But it's _hard_. Harder than it really should be, especially since he ad his siblings had overseen a lot of those things already. But that had been when Copy X had been alive and in charge, and all of Neo Arcadia had been pulling in the same direction on his orders. Now, with different factions vying for power while all of those responsibilities still need to be addressed…well, suffice it to say, Harpuia is starting to feel a bit worn out, and he knows the constant stress has been wearing on his brothers and sister, too, even if they won't admit it.

(None of them ever admit to exhaustion; they never have, for as long as he can remember. And Harpuia had once thought that such a thing was normal, that the four of them were behaving in a perfectly acceptable fashion, but the longer he goes without Copy X's influence the more he wonders if he and his siblings had never admitted to weariness because doing so would have been admitting to _weakness_ in front of a leader who had only ever valued them for their strength and usefulness.

It hurts to think about, but even so he wonders.)

This new matter with the Baby Elves only serves to worry him further.

"You're absolutely certain it was one of the Baby Elves?" he asks his brother now. "Not simply an ordinary Cyber Elf that looks similar?"

Phantom glares at him, clearly insulted. "Of course I'm sure," he snaps, tone just as sharp as his deadly sword. "Hyleg's description of the creature was very clear. There's no mistaking it for anything other than a Baby Elf."

"...Alright, then," Harpuia says after a moment, because there's no arguing with the facts and at the end of the day he _does_ trust his brother, warped sense of duty and obligation aside. "We'll need to figure out how to proceed."

"Our course of action should be obvious," Phantom says with a scoff. "Destroy the Resistance once and for all, and reclaim the Baby Elves before disaster strikes."

Harpuia shakes his head. "We don't need to go to war with the Resistance over the Baby Elves," he says.

"Don't be ridiculous," Phantom retorts. "They're not going to return them simply because we ask! Even if we explain the danger that they pose, they will not listen to us! They see us as the enemy!"

"Be that as it may," Harpuia replies, trying to keep calm even as part of him wants to just grab his brother and _shake_ him, "outright aggression will gain us nothing right now. We have managed to avoid any large scale confrontations with the Resistance for _months_ , Phantom," he goes on, and if a little frustration creeps into his tone he thinks he can be forgiven considering the circumstances. "Other than basic skirmishes or instances where our groups have been forced into conflict over competition for resources, we have avoided fighting."

"We shouldn't need to a _void_ fighting," Phantom hisses, mouth twisting in a sneer. "We have foremost military might in the world, Harpuia, we should not need to lay down arms in deference to a pathetic group like that."

"That 'pathetic group' is backed by one of the most skilled warrior Reploids to ever exist," Harpuia reminds his brother pointedly.

Phantom, for his part, gives the faintest flinch at the mention of Axl and then grimaces. "He is not invincible," he grumbles at last.

"No," Harpuia agrees, because he's seen Axl battered and unconscious, vulnerable to a well-placed energy saber. Because Axl isn't invincible, no matter what his persistent, stubborn survival looks like from the outside. The hero of the Resistance could have been killed that day, if Harpuia had made a different decision. if he'd chosen to walk a different path, rather than saving someone who should have been an enemy yet only ever tried to show him mercy. "But he is a force to be reckoned with and we must acknowledge that."

Phantom mutters darkly under his breath, but doesn't argue the point. "We still need to do something about the Baby Elves," he says after a moment, his tone less biting than it has been in recent weeks.

"We do," Harpuia agrees with a heavy sigh, the beginnings of a headache starting to creep in as he contemplates just how bad things might get if the two little escaped menaces in question start to wreak havoc out in the world.

Because those Baby Elves have been locked away in the heart of Neo Arcadia since before Harpuia was even self-aware, and while he may not know the specifics of _why,_ he's read enough of Neo Arcadia's top secret files in the last few months to know that they are indisputably dangerous. A connection of some sort to the Dark Elf, those files had theorized, and Harpuia's not a hero with noble aspirations but even he knows better than to let something even tangentially related to the Dark Elf go unchecked; it would spell catastrophe for Neo Arcadia, not to mention the world as a whole.

And he hasn't worked this hard just to watch everything burn.

"I'll contact Leviathan and Fefnir," he says now, getting up and heading for the communications terminal so he can recall his other two siblings from their missions out in the wilderness of the world. "If they return quickly, perhaps we can convene an emergency council and figure out how to proceed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! I'm having a lot of fun working on this arc of the story, but the more I read through the transcript of MMZ2 the more I realize how much I need to adjust to accommodate the changes that Axl's presence has made to this world, lol. Needless to say, my outline is constantly in a state of flux, haha. But I think it's working well so far. ;D


	25. Chapter 25: A Palace Forgotten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so! I apologize for my ridiculously prolonged absence; I accidentally stacked my plate of responsibilities a little too high and ran out of time for everything I wanted to do, lol. Also this chapter gave me a bit of a hard time and consequently is…kind of all over the place, lol. Basically, Axl finally visits the Crimson Palace and there's some introspective angst to be had. Hope you enjoy! ;D

**Chapter 25: A Palace Forgotten**

* * *

It takes Axl another three days of logistical maneuvering, but he finally manages to arrange for some time off from the active duty roster. Contrary to popular opinion, however, he will not be spending that time on rest and relaxation.

Instead, he's going to have the navigators transport him to a specific set of coordinates deep in a frigid wilderness, at which point he'll spend approximately two hours hiking across rugged terrain to reach his _actual_ destination.

"You're sure you have everything you'll need?" Ciel asks, fretting and trying to hide it as she sees him off in the transporter room.

Axl laughs at her poorly concealed anxiety. "I'll be fine, Ciel, you don't need to worry so much."

"Axl, it's _you_ ," is Ciel's immediate response. "Of _course_ I have to worry."

Axl makes a face at how matter-of-fact her words sound, but doesn't debate the point; Ciel is by nature a woman prone to worrying about the people she cares about, after all, and as much as the mother hen routine can chafe he knows it's from a place of love and so he wouldn't change that about her in a million years. "I really will be fine," he assures her instead. "I've traipsed all through those mountains, Ciel, there's nothing there that can hurt me."

"It's been _centuries_ , Axl, you don't know what you're going to find out there," Ciel argues, crossing her arms.

"Well, if all goes well I'm planning to find my pistol," he says lightly, favoring Ciel with a bright grin until she relents and gives a reluctant smile of her own.

"Just be careful," she says, stepping forward to give him a quick hug. "Please."

"You know I'll try," he says, and then Rouge and Jean are activating the teleporter and he's being whisked away to a remote corner of the world that probably hasn't seen Reploid activity in half a century at least (and honestly that's probably a generous estimation).

The air in the mountains surrounding the Crimson Palace has a sharp edge to it, all frost and pine and ancient rock, the wilderness of the area practically a living entity in its own right. Axl takes a deep breath, holds it, then exhales slowly as old memories start to trickle in, faded and worn at the edges but still as bittersweet as ever.

* * *

_Axl, much younger with his scars still fresh and tender to the touch, looks up at the battle Reploid who's standing at his side, so tall that he's practically looming. "The Crimson Palace is yours, right?" he asks, tone uncertain because_ _**he** _ _is uncertain. About_ _**everything** _ _. He doesn't know who this other Reploid is, not really, not beyond 'the one who found me'. Doesn't quite know where he_ _**is** _ _, beyond 'somewhere safe'._

_Axl doesn't even know_ _**himself** _ _at this point. He knows his name, has a basic understanding of his current situation (that Red had found him critically injured, and had brought him back to his base to save him) but he doesn't_ _**understand** _ _, doesn't know enough about_ _**anything** _ _._

_Red glances down at him, pulled from whatever thoughts he'd been having as he'd surveyed the terrain around them. "I suppose you could say that," he says after a moment, considering Axl with an indecipherable expression. "The Crimson Palace was designed to be a place that all members of Red Alert could call home, but it was my idea originally. It's my dream turned into reality," he adds in a softer voice, "and I suppose that means it could be considered mine."_

" _A dream turned into reality," Axl echoes, the words heavy on his tongue even though he doesn't yet understand the story that lurks behind Red's vague response._

_Red nods, and favors Axl with a crooked smile. "Come on," he says now, reaching out a hand to lightly tousle Axl's hair, "let's get back before the others start to worry that we've fallen into a ravine. I'll show you the rest of the hidden trails some other time."_

_Axl pouts but follows along. "Promise?"_

_Red chuckles. "Yeah, kid, I promise."_

* * *

It's been an untold number of years, but Axl is pleased to discover that he does in fact still remember where those hidden trails are located. Some are blocked by rockfalls and landslides, but after about an hour of hiking and climbing he finally manages to find one that's still mostly passable; he has to clamber over some fallen boulders and at one point almost goes sliding off the edge of a gorge thanks to a particularly troublesome patch of vermiculite, but the path gets him to where he's trying to go so he considers it a win.

Approaching the ruins of the Crimson Palace is troublesome in an entirely different way, in that it causes all sorts of tangled emotions to rise up in his chest. There's the heavy weight of grief in his chest, a familiar weight after all these years but still one that shortens his breath as he makes his way closer to the former base of Red Alert, an organization that had fallen so long ago that he's probably the only person still living (other than X and Zero, that is) who even remembers it.

There's also the ever-present sting of guilt that rises within him as he catches sight of the shattered and crumbling walls of the front of the Palace. _My fault_ , he thinks, and he knows logically that a lot of the blame for Red Alert's decline can be laid firmly at Sigma's doorstep but even so…

Even so, Axl played a role in that. First by unwittingly handing over the DNA data without wondering why, and then later by defecting from the organization he'd dedicated himself to and working instead to bring them down for the greater good.

Logically, Axl knows Red Alert would have fallen sooner or later, especially once they fell so thoroughly under Sigma's thrall and pitted themselves so openly against the Maverick Hunters.

But that fall happened faster _because of Axl_ , because Axl _betrayed_ them, and no matter how often X and Zero have assured him that it was the right thing to do (no matter how often he tells _himself_ that it was the right thing to do) there's still that niggling feeling of guilt because they were his _family_ and he _left_ them.

Because they were his family and he destroyed them, and it may have been for the greater good but that doesn't mean he doesn't regret it. Doesn't mean that it doesn't still _hurt_ , a soul-deep ache that he suspects will never fully go away.

It's not something he thinks about often (because if he spent as much time mourning as he probably should he'd never get anything else done and his pragmatism won't allow for that), but the regret still lingers. Some of his former comrades he doesn't mourn much at all, like Warfly and Boarski who he'd never gotten along with. But the others? The ones like Crowrang and Tonion? They were his friends, his _first_ friends as far as he knows (because whoever he was before Red found him is a mystery that will likely never get solved, the answers to the riddle of his own identity lost to the sands of time and his own amnesia) and he mourns them.

He mourns Red most of all, because Red is the one who found him. Who saved him. Because Red was the one who had seen a young Reploid on the edge of death, battered and broken, and had reached out, not only saving Axl's life but also giving him a home, a place to grow into himself and his abilities, to figure out who he was and who he wanted to be.

Axl wouldn't be who he is today without Red, and he's never forgotten that.

So Axl stands in front of the ruined Crimson Palace and the regret is almost enough to suffocate him.

Because he'd made new friends after leaving Red Alert, had made a new family for himself, but that doesn't mean that he's forgotten the first ones, the ones he'd left behind.

He takes another deep breath to steady himself, and reminds himself that he doesn't have time to waste getting caught in a spiral of guilt and grief. If Red were there now, he'd be among the first to chastise Axl for letting his feelings run away from him and impact his functionality.

"There's a time and a place to let your feelings dictate your actions," Red would say, just as he'd said before during one of Axl's many training sessions. "On the field of battle isn't it. That isn't to say your feelings aren't valid; they are. But when lives are on the line you have to keep a cool head and not let your emotions overcome your good judgment. It's always, _always_ important to maintain perspective, and not get distracted by your own personal issues."

It is, admittedly, hard advice for Axl to follow since he seems to spend the majority of his time tangled up in problems directly relating to his personal issues, sometimes through no obvious fault of his own. But he's pragmatic by nature and he _tries_. Tries to keep himself focused on his goals, tries to maintain perspective so he can see his mission through to the end without breaking himself into pieces along the way.

He feels a bit like he's failing at the moment, though, overwhelmed as he is by all these complicated feelings and memories.

Nevertheless, he needs to get his head in the game if he's going to successfully navigate the ruins of the Palace and get his pistol out of the hidden vault it's stowed away in. There are still the Palace's archaic security measures to contend with, after all, plus whatever creatures or scavengers might be lurking around.

So he shoves down the tidal wave of memories that's trying to drown him, buries the grief and the regret and the nostalgia in the back of his mind, and does what he's always done: he keeps moving forward.

He disables the traps he comes across with relative ease, the motions of disarming them familiar and habitual despite the fact that Axl hasn't physically set foot in the Palace for years. It's a case of old habits die hard, he supposes, and can't quite contain the faintly pleased smile that crosses his face at how he can remember something like this without even really trying. Red would be proud, he thinks, and the thought is bittersweet but not as painful as it once was.

In any case, he disarms seven hidden land mines, two rigged laser guns, and avoids one particularly well-hidden pitfall trap that -if Axl is remembering correctly- leads straight to the holding cells down in the basement. He makes a mental note to rig them back up again when he leaves because while it's doubtful that anyone else will ever come here he's not going to risk it; because yes, he's responsible for helping to turn the Palace into a dilapidated ruin, but it's still his duty to protect what's left. It's the very least he can do, after everything.

The Crimson Palace had belonged to Red, had been a physical manifestation of his dream. And maybe looking after the crumbling physical remnants of that dream is a poor way of repaying Red for everything he'd done for Axl, but at this point it's all Axl _can_ do.

(It's far too late to apologize, after all, even if he wanted to.

And he's not entirely sure if he _would_ apologize, even if the opportunity arose; he's sorry for how things ended between them, violent and tragic, but he's not sorry for choosing to defect to the Maverick Hunters, not entirely.

Because Red Alert had been great once, with a noble purpose, but Sigma had manipulated them and twisted them into something else, and Axl doesn't regret leaving that behind. Regrets that there was so much pain and suffering for all of them back then as a result of his choice to leave, yes, but he doesn't regret the decision itself because he _knows_ that if he hadn't left then things would have only gotten worse and worse until the whole world paid the price.

Logically, he knows it was the right decision. Emotionally, it's much harder to come to terms with it, even all these years later.)

He finds himself wishing that X and Zero were with him; they were always good at dragging him out of his morose thoughts whenever he lapsed into introspection about his previous life with Red Alert, good at keeping him grounded in the present instead of mired in the past.

Shaking his head to dispel his meandering thoughts, he disarms one final landmine and proceeds onward to the vault where X had stored his pistol. Axl plugs in the correct key-code and tugs open the vault with one swift yank; the hinges shriek in the ambient gloom of the underground vault and Axl winces automatically as the high-pitched noise bounces off the crumbling walls.

There are other things in the vault besides his pistol, relics of a bygone era that only he and his friends remember, and the temptation to linger and look over those items is strong; he resists, though, reminding himself that he has other priorities right now, other responsibilities.

If he ever manages to track down Weil and permanently remove him from the picture, maybe then he'll have time to come back here and sort through this vault, sort through those memories of the past.

(Part of him toys with the idea of restoring the Palace itself someday, but he's self-aware enough to know that pursuing that particular course of action is beyond him at the moment, pulled in twenty different directions the way he is right now. Especially since restoring the Palace would be a personal matter in a lot of ways, different from restoring X and Zero to their bodies. Bringing the Crimson Palace back would be something Axl did for _himself_ , to lay his ghosts to rest and pay tribute to Red, and he can't in good conscience put something like that as a top priority right now when so much else is at stake.

It's something to put on his ever-expanding to-do list, though, perhaps something to look forward to in whatever nebulous future awaits him after he completes his primary mission.)

He finds his pistol carefully packed away in a secure storage crate labeled with the Maverick Hunter insignia, bundled up in gun-wrap paper to keep it safe through the passage of time.

Something in Axl's chest warms at the sight of his weapon so carefully packaged and secured; X had obviously taken the time to store the gun properly, had cared enough about Axl that he'd treated his weapon with respect.

He pulls his pistol out of the storage crate and slowly unwraps it, absently discarding the gun-wrap paper off to the side as he inspects the weapon.

"Still in perfect condition," he murmurs, running one hand along the barrel with a familiarity that borders on fondness.

It feels better, to have one of his own weapons in his hand, rather than a generic firearm pilfered from the Resistance armory. Those plasma rifles and Busters are good enough weapons in their own right, he supposes, but his guns are indisputably a cut above. (Well, just the one gun now, but still.)

Carefully customized and enhanced over the long years of his career, this pistol is practically a piece of Axl himself, and it settles something inside of him to be holding it in his hand again. He knows what to expect from this weapon, could use it in his sleep if he had to.

And since he's not entirely sure what exactly he'll be up against in the immediate future, having a weapon he can thoroughly depend on is a reassurance; it's not quite the same as actually having someone watching his back, but it's as close as he's likely to get for a while so he'll take it.

He looks around the vault one more time, then exits, shoving the door shut behind him as he goes. He waits just long enough for the automatic locking mechanisms to engage, then pivots on his heel and leaves it behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was the chapter! Hope you enjoyed it. ;D As always, feedback is welcome if you have the time and inclination, but if you're not feeling up to it that's fine, too. I just hope that you're all doing well and that you liked this latest installment of the story. <3


	26. Scavenging

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELCOME BACK, GUYS! And sorry it took me like two months to update. Oops. ^_^;
> 
> This chapter is kind of a mess, because I 1) had one small but significant plot-related thing that I needed to happen but for some reason building an entire chapter around it was harder than usual? and 2) I was -like usual- juggling a variety of different responsibilities at the time, which I think made my brain kid of spazz out and not offer up the best quality of writing, lol. But! We are still plugging along with the story and I am still having tons of fun, so there's that. And as always a huge thank you to everyone for all of your lovely feedback! You're amazing and the best readers I could ever ask for (especially since this fandom is so small these days).
> 
> Also! I would like to take a moment to heartily and with great excitement recommend that everyone go check out my friend Adelphius's one-shot series, [Tales from Neo Arcadia!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27150307) :D Their one-shots are super fun and really great for anyone who wants to see more of Copy X and the Four Guardians and basically it's just amazing! So go check it out! :D
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter! It's not the best writing I've ever done, but it should still be a good time, lol. ;D

**Chapter 26: Scavenging**

* * *

"I have a lead on where you might be able to scavenge some materials for our…special side project," Ciel tells him three days after he gets back from the Crimson Palace.

He stares at her blankly for a moment, then a jolt of what might be anticipation shoots through his chest as realization strikes and he bolts to his feet, the file of recent skirmish reports he'd been reviewing entirely forgotten. "You mean…?"

Ciel nods, surreptitiously glancing back over her shoulder at the hallway before stepping fully into Axl's room and swiftly shutting the door behind her. "Materials for X and Zero's new bodies," she confirms, still keeping her voice low out of an overabundance of caution; what they're planning to do isn't something they want just anyone finding out about, after all, at least not right now. "I've had some of our scouts keeping an eye out for some of the resources that I'll need to facilitate the build, and it seems like they've finally found something."

Axl vaguely wonders if it's possible to vibrate to another plain of existence from sheer excitement coupled with fragile hope. "Yeah?"

"Yes." Ciel holds up the clipboard she's carrying. "There's a special alloy called adamantine; I need some in order to craft effective body armor that will be on par with what X and Zero had before. Unfortunately, it's incredibly hard to come by these days. When I was working for Neo Arcadia to build Copy X," she continues, "they naturally provided me with as much of it as I needed, taken from the various mines that they controlled at the time. Needless to say, we do not have such a mine at our disposal."

"No kidding," Axl responds dryly. At this point, the Resistance is better off than it was before but hardly at a stage where it has its own mining operation; hell, they're lucky to still have their power plant operational (although honestly at this point Axl has been through so much to keep that power plant intact that he would fight to keep it running out of sheer stubbornness if nothing else). "I take it you found an alternate source?" he prompts.

Ciel gives a small, pleased smile. "I have," she replies. "One of my scouts informed me that an old Neo Arcadian warehouse in the mountains has veritable plethora of supplies, adamantine included. There are some other materials I'd like for you to look for while you're there as well," she requests, handing him the clipboard with its neat and carefully organized list. "I can authorize this mission as a supply run for research materials that I need for my energy project, but in order for that to be believable I'll need you to actually get some small pieces of equipment for me while you're there."

"Not a problem," Axl assures her. "Whatever you need."

And so he sets out twenty minutes later, heading for the warehouse armed with his recovered pistol and his 'shopping list'.

Said list includes the adamantine, of course, but also two special concave mirrors for Ciel's spectrometer, a spool of copper wire, and some sort of super special electron microscope.

(Axl hasn't got the faintest clue as to how he's going to _carry_ all of that at once, much less flee the facility with everything, but he's confident enough in his ability to adapt on the fly to not be overly concerned about it; worst case scenario, he'll just steal a transport ship from the warehouse in addition to everything else.)

In any case, Rouge and Jean transport him to a location nearby, and he wastes no time when it comes to the breaking and entering portion of his mission.

All it takes is a a quick circuit around the warehouse to pinpoint the entry point with the least amount of protection, two energy shots to take out the guards there, and he's in.

From there, it's a simple matter of finding what he needs.

Or rather…it's _should_ be a simple matter. Unfortunately, nothing in his life ever seems to go according to plan and even something as easy as retrieving some crap from a warehouse isn't an exception.

Because whoever organized the place was _out of their ever-loving mind_. There's no rhyme or reason to how things seem to be stored, no sane pattern that Axl can discern for why crates of explosives are stacked beside bins of musty old books or for why there are piles of random junk and broken equipment littered throughout the aisles, as if someone had literally driven a truck in and dumped everything off without regard for whoever would come along in the future.

(In fairness, no one in charge of this warehouse could have anticipated that Axl would show up here one day and need to find a few very specific items without wasting too much time. And even if they had, given that it's a Neo Arcadian warehouse he's rather inclined to think that they would have, in fact, made things even more convoluted.)

Well, whatever; he didn't come this far to be stymied by the poor organizational skills of his enemies.

It takes him the better part of an hour, but he manages to locate the copper wire that Ciel wants, along with the funky little mirrors she wants. But the electron microscope is not where it should be, and neither is the crate of adamantine that he needs so desperately; instead, all he finds is empty shelves covered in what seems to be some sort of sticky webbing, the thin white threads criss-crossing the aisles like some sort of demented spider's web.

Torn between puzzlement and irritation, he reaches out a hand and tugs lightly on the closest thread, testing its strength. It sticks to his hand like flypaper, and all the other threads around it bend as well when he goes to pull his hand away.

"Ugh," is all Axl really has to say about that. Then he hears a faint chittering sound from somewhere nearby, and he notices that the threads spanning the aisle and covering the shelves are vibrating ever-so-slightly, and he discovers that he does, in fact, have quite a bit more to say.

"You've got to be kidding me," he exclaims in disbelief as a giant spider-themed Mechaniloid comes charging towards him out of the shadows, its barbed legs clattering against the metal of the shelves as its optics glow an ominous red color in the dim lighting of the warehouse. "There is no way my luck is this bad!"

The Mechaniloid just chitters at him, a creaky screeching sound that makes him wonder if its vocal processor is damaged, then it lunges forward with snapping mandibles that are more reminiscent of an incredibly vicious wood-cutter ant than anything.

Axl drops the supplies he'd been carrying and flings himself backwards with a curse, drawing his pistol and firing off a rapid series of shots that slam straight into the giant arachnid and send it reeling away with another enraged shriek, those mandibles clicking and grinding in a way that is distinctively disturbing for no particular reason that he can pinpoint.

He doesn't give it a chance to recover and mount a counterattack, but instead charges forward himself and keeps unleashing charged energy shots until finally the Mechaniloid crumples to the warehouse floor in a heap of charred and twisted metal, its two rows of unnerving eyes going dark as its power core fails.

"Why," Axl asks of the empty warehouse, "was there a giant-ass spider Mechaniloid in here? Talk about a health and safety hazard, geez." He holsters his pistol with another grumble, then steps past the smoking remnants of his opponent's corpse.

Ultimately, he supposes that it doesn't really matter why the monstrous mechanical arachnid was there; perhaps it was an additional security measure that went a little crazy, or maybe it was something that had broken into the facility like he had and set up shop. Either way, it won't be causing him any more trouble he supposes that's all that really matters right now.

In any case, He retrieves he things he'd dropped a few moments before ad then proceeds to follow the threads of webbing farther and farther down the aisle on a hunch, until he reaches the center of the warehouse, where he finds what can only really be described as a tremendous pile of detritus sitting underneath the central hub of webbing.

The spider Mechaniloid, it seems, was an unrepentant hoarder.

(He can't decide if that fact is incredibly funny or just incredibly strange.)

"Oh, look," he says to no one in particular as he picks his way across the junk-strewn floor to the primary heap of odds and ends, "there's the microscope Ciel wants." He shoves aside a broken desk chair and a twisted hunk of metal that resembles a filing cabinet (well, it resembles a filing cabinet _that's been chewed on_ , but Axl very much does not want to think about that, thank you very much; those gnashing mandibles had been disturbing enough to deal with the first time, he doesn't want his thoughts to linger on them).

It takes him a few minutes of carefully shifting pieces of battered equipment aside, but eventually he's able to extricate the electron microscope from the pile of garbage; it seems functional at first glance, just a little scuffed up, which he counts as a minor miracle since this thing had evidently been sitting half-buried in the Mechaniloid's hoard for an indeterminable amount of time.

Still no sign of the adamantine, though, and that worries him more than he'd be willing to admit if asked. Because he needs that alloy; without it, Ciel won't be able to make X and Zero new bodies, or at least not bodies that are suitable for them, and as much as he knows that this whole endeavor is a long-shot at best he refuses to accept that outcome.

So he carefully sets the microscope back down, along with the copper wire and concave mirrors, and he keeps looking.

In the end, it takes forty-seven minutes of furiously digging through the spider Mechaniloid's hoard to find a battered crate of adamantine, and by that time it seems that someone must have noticed that those two guards he'd shot on his way in are no longer responding to their radio messages; a loud alarm klaxon starts blaring right as he hefts the crate of adamantine into his arms, the sound bouncing around the inside of the warehouse until it's all Axl can hear.

He curses, long and oud and heartfelt, and sets the crate down; it's the work of jut a moment to pry the lid off o he can cram the rest of his loot inside the box, but every second that passes feels like a loss because he needs to get the hell out of here before he's surrounded.

(And he especially needs to get out of here before one of the guards notifies the Guardians of the fact that he's breaking into one of their warehouses, because the absolute last thing he wants right now is to fight one of them.)

So he stuffs everything into the crate and hustles towards the warehouse loading bay. He encounters some enemy soldiers along the way, Pantheons that look like they've seen better days; he disables them without much trouble, ignoring the ever-present lurch of discomfort that always comes from shooting at things that resemble X.

(He'd hoped, somewhere in the back of his mind, that once he'd defeated Copy X that particular hang-up would go away, and he'd be able to fight Neo Arcadia's most common foot soldiers without feeling low-grade queasy every time, but regrettably that doesn't seem to be the case. Their appearance still bothers him, and blasting them to pieces still makes him uncomfortable nine times out of ten.

It doesn't slow him down in the slightest, but it's definitely an issue, one that he'd hoped he could lay to rest at some point.

But it seems that it's something that's going to linger, and he resigns himself to that fact even as he relegates the thought to the back of his mind where he keeps everything he Can't Deal With Now.)

In the end, he hot-wires a small but fast shuttle transport and blasts out of the warehouse loading bay, the spoils from his little supply run strapped securely into the cargo area of the ship so they won't get damaged.

He takes a circuitous route back to Resistance headquarters just in case anyone's tracking his flight, but eventually decides that anyone who might have been following him almost definitely isn't anymore, and so he glide his way back home and offloads his loot.

"Is that enough?" Axl asks Ciel later, his voice a low murmur that only she can hear as he carries the crate of adamantine into the lab for her. "For…you know."

Ciel gives him a tired but reassuring smile. "It is," she confirms. "Good work."

Something like relief trickles through him, warm and bubbly, and he finds himself grinning without quite meaning to. "Great," he says. "That's great."

Because it may just be one small step on the long path to getting X and Zero out of cyberspace, but it's one step that's been taken, that's done, and that's something to be celebrated.

(He's one step closer to getting his friends back for real, and the very thought of it makes something spark to life in his chest, bright and hopeful.)


End file.
